
Class 
Book 



» 



( ' A . 






ENCYCLOPEDIA METROPOLITAN!; 



OB 



SYSTEM OF UNIVERSAL KNOWLEDGE; 



ON A METHODICAL PLAN 



PEOJECTED BY SAMUEL TAYLOE COLEEIDGE, 



CABINET EDITION. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, 

FROM THE FOUETH TO THE TWELFTH CENTURY. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, FROM THE BIRTH OF CHRIST TO THE 

PRESENT TIME. 
3 vols. Crown Svo, 21s., cloth. 

Or, in Divisions, — 

Eap.lt Christianity. 

HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN THE FIRST CENTURY. 

By Right Rev. Samuel Hinds, D.D., Bishop of Norwich, and Rev. J. H. Newman, B.D. 

Crown 8vo, 6s., cloth. 

Christianity in the Middle Ages. 

THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH FROM THE SECOND TO THE TWELFTH CENTURY. 

By James A. Jeremie, D.D., Regius Professor of Divinity in the University of Cambridge; 
Rev. J. B. S. Carwithen, B.D., &c. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d., cloth. 

The Rise, Accomplishment, and Consequences of the Reformation. 

THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH FROM THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

By Right Rev. Dr. Hampden, Bishop of Hereford; Rev. J. E. Riddle, M.A., &c, &c 
Crown 8vo, 7s. 6cL, cloth. 



HISTORY 



OF 



THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH 



FROM 



CIj£ jfffurtjr ia % ©imlflj Cmteqr, 



BY 



REV.' J. B. S. CARWITHEN, B.D. 



REV. A. LYALL. 



LONDON AND GLASGOW : 
RICHARD GRIFFIN AND COMPANY, 

PUBLISHERS TO THE UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW. 

1856. 



'. ,-. . .<.■*■:• « » » * 






I 



,^4 



VOti»,»VS»,*.fU I*!*- IU !»**■» 



GLASGOW : PRINTED BY BELL AND BAIN. 



JUN 1 t 1919 

PUBLIC LIBRARY 
W A3S.LcsGT»N, - ». C. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I.— Observations Preliminary to the Ecclesiastical His- 
tory of the Fourth Century .... 
Section 1. The New Relations introduced between Church and State 

2. The Consequences of the Establishment of Christianity upon the 

outer and inner Life of the Church .... 

3. Results of the Establishment of Christianity upon the Empire 

generally ....... 

4. The Decline of Paganism ..... 

CHAPTER II. — History of the Christian Church in the Fourth 
Century — 

Section 1. The Reign of Constantine, a.d. 306-337 

2. The Sons of Constantine — Constantinus II., Constans, and Con- 

stantius, a.d. 337-363 . . . . 

3. Julian the Apostate, a.d. 331-363 .... 

4. History of the Christian Church, from the death of Julian to the 

end of the Fourth Century, a.d. 363-400 

CHAPTER III. — Ecclesiastical Writers of the Fourth Century — 



10 
11 



13 

27 
38 

56 



Section 1. 


Introductory Remarks 


. 


. 


. 




. , 


69 


2. 


Biographical and Literary Notices of the Ecclesiastical Writers 
of the Fourth Century — 






Arnobius ..... .70 




Lactantius 










71 




Commodianus 










73 




Eusebius of Cassarea 










74 




Athanasius 










77 




Juvencus 










79 




Julius Firmicus Maternus 










80 




Cyrillus of Jerusalem 










80 




Hilarius . 










81 




Victorinus 












83 




Lucifer . 












84 




Phoebadius 












85 




Pacianus . 












86 




Epiphanius 












86 




Optatus . 












87 




Ephrem Syrus 












88 




Basil of Csesarea 










, 89 




Gregorius Nazianzenus . 










90 




Gregorius Nyssenus 
Ambrosius 










96 












98 




Hilarius the Deacon 










. 103 




Damasus . 










. 103 




Didymus . 










103 




Macarius . 










. 104 




Philastrius 


• . 










. 104 



Yl 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTEE IV.— Heresies of the Fourth Century — 

The Donatists ...... 

The Arians : — branches— Semi- Arians, Acacians, Euno- 

miaiis, Exocontians, Duliani, Psathyrians 
The Apollinarians 

Photinians , . . . 

Macedonians .... 
Priscillianists .... 
Ardseans — Messalians, or Euchites — Antidicomarianites 

— Collyridians ..... 

CHAPTER V. — History of the Christian Church in the Fifth and 
Sixth Centuries — 
From the Death of Theodosius to the Reign of Phocas, a.d. 395-610 . 

CHAPTER VI.— Ecclesiastical Writers of the Fifth and Sixth Cen- 
turies — 



CHAPTER VIII. — History of the Christian Church in the Seventh 
and Eighth Centuries . . 

CHAPTEE IX.— Ecclesiastical Writers of the Seventh and Eighth 

Centuries — 
Sophronins 
Antiochns 

Isychius, or Hesychins 
Maximns . 
Germanus 
Cosmas , 

Johannes Damascenns 
Syncellus and Theophanes 
Isidore of Seville . 
Aldhelm . 
Theodore . 
Julian Pomerins . 
Crisconius 
Bede 

Alcuin, or Albinns 
Johannes Erigena 
Paulinus 
Other Writers of the Seventh and Eighth Centuries 



Page 

105 

109 
119 
119 
120 

120 

122 



123 



Chrysostom 




. 132 


Augustine 




. 137 


Jerome . 




. 140 


Cyril . 




. 141 


Isidore of Pelusium 




. 142 


Theodoret 




. 142 


Socrates — Sozomen 




. 142 


Cassian . . 




. 142 


Other Writers of the Fifth Century 


. 143 


Ecclesiastical Writers of the Sixth Century — 




Gregory I. the Great 


. 143 


Gregory, Bishop of Toms 


. 144 


Other Latin Yv 7 riters 


. 144 


CHAPTER VIL— Heresies of the Fifth and Sixth Centurie. 




Nestorians .... 


. 145 


Eutychians .... 


. 149 


Modifications of the Eutychian Heresy . 


. 152 


Pelagians . 


. 152 


Semi-Pelagians .... 


. 156 


Predestinarians .... 


. 156 


General Observations 




. 157 



158 



166 
167 
167 
167 
167 
167 
168 
168 
168 
169 
169 
169 
169 
170 
172 
173 
174 
174 



CONTENTS. 



VII 



CHAPTER X.— Heresies of the Seventh and Eighth Centuries— 

The Monothelites 

The Maronites 

The Felicians 

The Iconoclasts and Iconoduli . 

Controversy concerning the Eucharist 

Controversy concerning the Derivation of the Holy Ghost 

CHAPTER XI.— History of the Christian Church in the Ninth and 
Tenth Centuries ...••• 

CHAPTER XII.— Ecclesiastical Writers of the Ninth and Tenth 
Centuries — 
Photitis . 
Ignatius . 
Nicephorus 
Leo VI. . 
Rabanus Maurus 
Agobard . 
Claudius 
Eginhard 
Gildas 
Gotteschalc 

Hincmar . . 

Paschasius Radbert 
Bertranm, or Ratramn . 
Haymo, or Aimo . 
Yv 7 alafridus Strabo, or Strabus 
Simeon Metaphrastes 
Nicon 

(Ecunienius and Olympiodorus 
Constantius YIII. Porphyro-Geneta 
Eutychius 

Gerbert, or Sylvester II. 
Ratheir . 
Atto 

Dunstan . 
iElfric, or Alfric . 
Burchard 
Odilo 
Moses Barcepha . 

CHAPTER XIII. — Heresies and Controversies of the Ninth and 
Tenth Centuries — 

The Paulicians . 

Controversy concerning Images .... 

Controversy concerning the Corporeal Presence in the 

Eucharist ...... 

Controversy concerning Predestination . 
Controversy concerning the words Trina Deltas . 
Controversy concerning the manner of Christ's Birth 
Controversies between the Greeks and Latins, or the 

Photian Controversy ..... 

CHAPTER XIV. — History of the Christian Church in the Eleventh 
and Twelfth Centuries .... 



175 
178 
179 
179 
183 
184 



185 



193 
194 
194 
195 
195 
195 
196 
196 
196 
196 
196 
197 
197 
197 
197 
198 
198 
198 
198 
199 
199 
199 
200 
200 
200 
200 
201 
201 



202 
204 

204 
206 
207 
207 

208 



210 



CHAPTER XV. — Ecclesiastical Writers of the Eleventh and Twelfth 
Centuries — 

Theophanes Ceramius ..... 231 
Nilus Doxipatrius ..... 232 

Nicetas Pectoratus ..... 232 

Michael Psellus . . . . . .232 



vm 



CONTENTS, 



CHAPTER XV.— Continued— 

Page 
Michael Cerularius ..... 232 

Johannes Xiphilinus ..... 233 

Theophylact . . . . . .233 

Fulbert ....... 233 

Humbert. . . . . . .233 

Petrus Damianus . . . . .233 

Berenger. ...... 234 

Lanfranc. . . . . . . 237 

Hildebert 239 

Gregory VII. . . . . .239 

Peter Chrysolanus . . . . 239 

Eustratius . . . . . .239 

Euthymius Zygabenus ..... 240 

Philip the Solitary . . . . .240 

Michael Glycas, . . . . . .240 

Constantius Hannenopulus .... 240 

Joannes Cinnarnus ..... 240 

Joannes Zonaras ...... 240 

Theodore Balsamon ..... 241 

Michael Anchialus . . . . . 241 

Hugo Etherianus ..... 241 

Theorianus ...... 241 

Bernard of Clairval 243 

Peter Abelard 244 

Gilbert de la Porree 245 

Ives, Yves, or Ivo, Bishop of Chartres . . . 246 

Geoffrey of Angers, Cardinal, and Abbot of Vendome . 247 
John of Salisbury ..... 247 

Peter of Celles 247 

Peter of Blois 247 

Peter, sumamed Cornestor, or the Eater . . 248 

Peter of Clugny . . . . . .248 

Honorius of Autun . . . . 248 

Rupert of Duvtz . . . . .248 

Hugh of St. Victor . - . . .249 

Richard of St. Victor . . . . .249 

Peter Lombard . . . . . .249 

Robert Pullens . . . . . .249 

St. Anselm \ . 250 

CHAPTER XVI. — Heresies of the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries — 

Albigenses. — Petrobrussians. — Henricians. — Cathari. — 

Arnold of Brescia. — Waldenses . . . 251 

CHAPTER XVII. — The Establishment of the Saxon Church . . 256 

CHAPTER XVIII.— The Rise and Progress of Monasticism . . 289 

Index ......... 299 



HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 



CHAPTEE I. 



OBSERVATIONS PRELIMINARY TO THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 
OF THE FOURTH CENTURY. 

The accession of Constantine the Great is one of those turning- Different ap- 
points which begin a new and distinct period in Ecclesiastical His- centu^^m^ 
tory. Hitherto the annals of the Church have been one long P ared wit f 
warfare against hostility and opposition from without. The best ing History of 
and ablest of the Roman princes, the philosophers, the juriscon- the ChlLrc31, 
suits, 1 all the pride and power, the learning and laws, of a great 
empire had been arrayed in turn against the disciples of the Cross. 

It has been remarked 2 that the early persecutions are not to be 
set down merely to the wanton cruelty of those who inflicted 
them, since in that case a Commodus would be humane compared 
with a Trajan or Marcus Antonius : it would perhaps be an equal 
mistake to suppose that religious zeal, or a fanatical devotion for 
the old mythology was their moving cause. From the first the 
policy of imperial Rome seems to have recognized in Christianity 
a power antagonistic to itself, to have felt that the acknowledg- 
ment of a Messiah-K/i# was a principle which could not co-exist 
with the deification of the reigning emperor, the Divus Imperator. 
The way in which the Christians spoke of the kingdom of Christ 
stamped them in the eyes of the state as disaffected men : it was a 
divided allegiance which Rome could not brook, a crimen majestatis 
to be sternly suppressed. 

Some such thoughts seem more or less to have been uppermost 
with those princes, who realized most clearly their own position 
and that of the republic. 3 Faith in their idolatrous worship had 
long gone by, but yet it was a part of the ancient glories of their 
country, and the patriotic Roman was apprehensive of unknown 
dangers to the state, if that venerable cultus were forsaken, with 
which its past prosperity and its future security seemed inter- 
woven. So the order went forth to enforce obedience to the laws, 

1 Of the enmity of the philosophers in the time of M. Aurelius, and of the Roman 
lawyers in the early part of the third century — see this work, part ii. pp. 26, 46. 

2 Hist, of Third Century, part ii. p. 44. 

3 See remarks on the persecutions interspersed through this work, particularly on 
that of Decius, pp. 11-14, 20, 45, 50> part ii.; also Gibbon's Decline and Fall, &c. c. xvi. 



2 THE CHRISTIAN CHTJECH IN THE EOTJETH CENTUEY. 

(as the edicts commonly ran), to require conformity though they 
eould not ohtain conviction. 

For nearly 300 years this had been so. If in the days of Alex- 
ander or Philip we can say the Church had rest, the increased 
severity of their successors too surely told that the storm had 
not abated. But now the scene changes. Kings were to become 
as nursing fathers to the Church, and then 1 queens her nursing 
mothers. 1 The conversion of Constantine gave to the Church an 
earnest of the promise, that the kingdoms of this world should 
become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. 2 Thencefor- 
ward, instead of an open warfare with the powers of this world, 
the History of the Church is for the most part as militant against 
assaults from within, and foes who were of her own household. 
The time of wealth and worldly honour was found to bring with it 
dangers no less perilous because more subtle than in the time of 
tribulation and persecution. 
Effects of the The new footing on which the Church was placed by this event 
CoMtenSe? ^vith regard to the civil power, was the parent of many great 
changes, the influence of which has been felt far bevond their 
immediate time. Among those of which we shall speak are : — 1. 
The Relation in which the Church was placed to the Head of the 
State. 2. The Consequences of the Establishment of Christianity 
upon the outward and inner life of the Church, and its influence. 
3. Upon the Empire generally. 4. Upon the downfall of Paganism. 

SECTION I. — THE NEW RELATIONS INTRODUCED BETWEEN CHURCH AND STATE. 

The tmion of The authority exercised by the early Christian emperors in the 
state? an affairs of the Church, has given rise to many important questions, 
questions which are still debated in the present day. The whole 
principle of an Established national Church, the propriety of State 
endowments, the nature of Ecclesiastical jurisdiction, the justice of 
enforcing conformity by the civil arm, the supremacy of the chief 
magistrate in Ecclesiastical causes, and the extent of his preroga- 
tive : all these are points now first raised, 3 and which led to long 
contests in after ages. 4 It would be beside our purpose to go into 
the argument for the union of Church and State, or to assert the 
connection of the spiritual society with those ends for which 
human government is instituted. The principle which our Church 

1 Isaiah xlix. 23. 2 Rev. xi. 15. 

3 The Donatists of Africa, (apart from their more serious errors,) may be taken as 
that section of the Christian body who first bore their protest to the acts of Constantine, 
arid maintained the essential and necessary separation of the Church from the State. 
His son Constans, desirous to conciliate that violent and obstinate sect, made them a 
grant of money. They rejected his overtures, returned his gift with contempt, and 
strongly reprobated all State intervention, as contrary to the spirit and constitution of 
a Church. 

4 The great struggle of the Middle Ages between the German emperors and the Popes, 
chiefly turned upon this issue. In our own land, Anselm and a-Becket will occur to the 
mind of the reader. 



2TEW KELATIOXS BETWEEN CEXBCH A3TD STATE. 3 

lias wisely ruled 1 is known to all. To the objections of the non- 
conformist, we may best oppose the facts of her history; was this 
in any case an unworthy compromise of Christian liberty for State 
protection; a barter of true spiritual independence and the Church's 
freedom for temporal, unlawful advantage ? "Was it not rather the 
alliance of two great powers, conscious that they had a real and 
natural union, and might work together for high and noble ends, 
that the Church should sanctify the State, while the State 
strengthened the hands of the Church ? The analogy of the 
Jewish commonwealth would confirm the view that the prince, 
ruling immediately under G-od, had duties to perform as governor 
of His Church. David, Hezekiah, and Josiah, the most pious of 
the kings of Judah, had reformed corruptions, increased the 
efficiency of the Temple services, seen to the due discharge of the 
priestly offices, or the ceremonial law. Might not the Christian 
monarch of a Christian people share a like responsibility, and wield 
the like authority for the ordering and benefit of the Church ? 
Of course, while their mutual relations were still new and unsettled, 
we cannot say that a strict line was always drawn : sometimes the 
emperor may have interfered unduly f sometimes the idea of 
Pontifex Maximus may have crept in; yet on the whole, the conduct Constantine 
of Constantine was uniformly fair, moderate, and consistent. He ttu^but^a 
sought to maintain the unity and discipline of the Church, to lawful super- 

. o vision over 

which he saw so much of her strength was owing. By the grants the Church, 
and privileges he bestowed, he aimed at increasing her powers of 
good in the State; and, when the Arian heresy began to spread, he 
was foremost by his measures and counsel to restore peace. 4 

It is remarkable, as a proof that this principle is not one alien singular pre- 
to Ecclesiastical Polity, but almost grounded in the nature of time of Au- 
things, that the occasion to call in the aid of the State, had 
occurred previously to the time of Constantine. Fifty years 
before, the case of Paul of Samosata had been brought before the 
tribunal of a heathen judge, and it required the decision of the 
emperor Aurelian to put a stop to his unseemly strife in the 
Church of Antioch. 5 

1 Article xxxrii. Also, Canons of 1603, can. 1. 

2 The command to the bishop of Constantinople to re-admit Arms to the communion 
of the Church, in spite of his remonstrances, was a case of this kind. 

3 See his praiseworthy efforts to heal the Donatist and Meletian schisms, as detailed 
in chap. v. 

4 While the maintenance of external order belonged to himself, as supreme ruler 
under God, internal affairs, and all that may properly be termed ecclesiastical causes, 
were left to the control of the bishops. Mosheim/cent. iv. p. 2. c. ii. shows, that a 
careful distinction was made by Constantine between the external and internal admin- 
istration of the Church, cf. Euseb. in Vit. Constantin. hi. c. 6-21. Tillemont, Mem. 
Ecclesiastiques, torn. vi. pp. 669-759. 

5 For the histoiy and expulsion of this bad man, see Euseb. Hist. Eccles. vii. 30. 
Gibbon's Decline and Fall, &c. c. xvi., also this work, part ii. cap. v. sec 3, page 19-1. 



relian, 274 

A.D. 



4 THE CHKISTIAS" CHrECH HT THE FOUBTH CEZSTUBY. 

SECTION II. — THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CHRISTIANITY UPON 
THE OUTER AND INNER LIFE OF THE CHURCH. 

its influence When Christianity became a religio licita, the mere fact of the 
Church itself: fetters which had so long repressed its free action, being removed, 
would of itself account for much of that expansion, in matters of 
form, which this period has to show. We shall find, in addition, 
that, as God made the ways of Constantine to prosper, there resulted 
a gradual improvement in the position of the Christian community, 
as well as a bestowing of many important privileges, which led to 
considerable alterations in their political condition ; though, in this 
account, we shall not confine ourselves to his single reign ; but 
describe the general features of the period. 
i. Power, J ns t a s in times of persecution the bishops, as the faithful guardi- 

privilesres 

and immuni- ans of the Christian flock, had been marked men, 1 so when better days 
cfergy? 16 naa come they were singled out for especial honour, and received 
a corresponding advance in dignity. In cases affecting ecclesiastics, 
the State recognized their peculiar jurisdiction, and so the foundations 
of the canon law were gradually laid. To them also was conceded 
the power of arbitration, and of adjudicating in causes voluntarily 
removed from the civil courts, their award being held binding in 
law. 2 In process of time was established the privilege known as 
Intercessio Episcoporum, by which they claimed to act as assessors 
to the civil judge, and when needful to interpose their mediation 
on the criminal's behalf. Moreover, "they alone," says Gibbon, 3 
"under a despotic government, enjoyed the privilege of being tried 
only by their peers ; and, even in a capital accusation, a synod of 
their brethren were the sole judges of then guilt or innocence." 

Though (Ecumenical or General Councils of the Church might 
not be convened without the commandment and will of the 
prince, yet twice in every year the Provincial Synods were em- 
powered to assemble under the direction of the archbishop or metro- 
politan, to consider whatever related to the welfare and discipline 
of their body. The right of sanctuary, of which we may find a 
precedent in Jewish history and the customs of Greece and Borne, 4 
was transferred from the pagan temples to the Christian Churches ; 
and by the edict of 319 the clergy were exempted from civil offices 
2. Wealth an -d oppressive burthens. 5 The edict of Milan restored the property 
mentlfof^th ^^ed by the confiscations of former reigns. The alms and vol- 
Church. untary gifts of the early believers had sufficed for the public wants 
of religion ; and greatly as the sphere of the Church's work was 
widened at this time, the increase of wealth and possessions more 

1 See the decree of Maximums Thrax, c. iii. p. 47, vol. ii. of this work. 

2 Christian suitors would be reluctant to bring their cause before a heathen magis- 
trate, if St. Paul's words in 1 Cor. vi. 5 did not actually forbid it. 

3 Decline ana Fall, c. xx. 

4 1 Kings i. 50. Concerning the asylum or refugium afforded by the heathen altars. 
cf. Virg. .En. ii. 515. Ter. Heaut, v. 2. 22. Also Adam's Roman Antiquities, 
5 For the charter of immunities conferred on the clergy, see Theodosian Code, lib. xvi. 



CONSEQUENCES OE THE ESTABLISHMENT OE CHRISTIANITY. 5 

than kept pace with it. Besides the munificence of the Christian 
emperors, the bounty of the State was often liberally bestowed. 1 
In many instances the Pagan temples with their lands and endow- 
ments were alienated to the service of the Church. An edict in 
321 made valid all testamentary bequests for sacred purposes ; 2 and 
among other sources which helped to swell the revenues of the 
Church at this period we may take into account the piety of indi- 
viduals, who, embracing the monastic life, set apart their patrimony 
for holy uses. It may be mentioned that the payment of tithes, 
though not common until the 6th century, was now frequent. For 
the darker side of this picture, we have to note the attendant evils 
of luxury, pride, and ambition ; and that even at this early date 
the Roman see was pre-eminent above all others for its splendour, 
opulence, and lust of power. 3 

It is in this period we are first struck with the name and powers & Metropqii- 
of the Metropolitan Bishops. 4 Much of their influence was owing ally the Msh- 
to the state of things brought about by Constantine's changes j^P ^ 01116 - 
the old form of Roman government. The imperium and potestas, 
which had been united in the ancient proconsuls and propraetors, 
were now separated. The civil governors, and the lieutenants of 
the imperial armies, exercised distinct and divided jurisdiction. 5 
Thus in many cases the influence of the spiritual rulers would pre- 
ponderate, and the imperial officers would speak with less authority 
than the primate who dispensed the revenues of a great capital, 
and administered the affairs of a whole province. 

There too we may trace signs of that greatness which one of 
these metropolitan sees was afterwards to attain, and find predis- 
posing causes even in this age for the assumptions and usurpation 
of papal Rome. It is true that many of her worst innovations belong 
to later and darker times : and that to many of her bishops and teach- 
ers in this and the following age we owe it that the Western Churches 
bore witness to truths which were at peril in the East ; nevertheless, 
it is in the fourth century that the thin end of the wedge was first 

1 Large donatives in money and corn were given on- various occasions to the several 
Churches. Euseb. Hist. Eccles. lib. x. 6. In Vit. Constantin. lib. iv. c. 28. 

2 Cod,, Theodos. lib. xvi. tit. 2, leg. 4. This privilege was sometimes abused. In 370 
an edict of Valentinian was published to prevent testamentary donations to the clergy, 
and to stop the increasing withdrawal of landed property from the State. Cod. Theodos. 
lib. xvi. tit. 2, leg. 20. Jerome remarks (torn. i. p. 13), Nee de lege quesor ; sed doleo 
cur meruerimas hanc legem. 

3 In the time of Damasus, Prastextatus, the pagan praefect, could say in jest, Facile 
me Romance urbis episcopum ; et ero protinus Christianus. Jerome, torn. ii. p. 165. 

4 The titles of Patriarch and Pope were at first applied to any eminent bishop : 
thus Tertullian calls a bishop, " Bonus pastor et benedictus papa" — De Pudicit. c. 
xiii. Gregory Nypen, speaking of a collective assembly of bishops, says, ogoiri rovg 
jr«rg/«gx«ff TovTor? — (Orat. Funeb. in Melet.), while such styles as Metropolitan, 
Exarch, Archbishop, were used to mark honorary distinctions of rank in the Episcopal 
order. Guerick's Antiquities of the Church, pt. i. c. 3. Bingham, book ii. c. xvi. § 

5 Consult c. xvii. of Gibbon's Decline and Fall. 



6 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH TS THE EOrRTH CENTURY. 

inserted, and to which we must look for explanation of the preten- 
Causes which sions afterwards put forward. The donation of Const antine has 
?rowth e ^ the l° n o ^ een discarded as the clumsy forgery of a later time ; ! the 
power in the structure of Romish power was far more slow and accidental in 
Church. building. From the first, that Church had been marked by an 
arrogant unbending temper. 2 The spirit of pride and dominion 
still lingered about the site of Jupiter Capitolinus, and dwelt in 
the city of Cato and of Caesar. Presiding over the Church in the 
capital of the empire, at once the centre of the Christian and the 
civilized world, the Bishop of Eome filled a conspicuous place, and 
was heard with deference and respect. This accident of position 
explains why reference was so often made to his decision and 
arbitration, 3 on which was soon founded a claim to judge in appeals 
from other Churches. A decree of the Council of Sardica 4 seemed 
to give a partial acknowledgment of his right of supervision. The 
frequent contentions which raged in the East from this century 
gave many occasions for the Popes to interfere, while the jealousy 
of the suffragan Bishops too often preferred to pay nominal allegi- 
ance to a foreign master, than to bow to the authority of an 
immediate superior. The honours of the pallium, at first a mark 
of distinction, became in time the badge of subjection. 
Foundation Among other incidental causes, the removal of the seat of 
of Constan- empire to Constantinople must not be omitted. The feeble 
its influence descendants of Theodosius, and the Creek Exarchs their suc- 
posmonof cessors, held then 1 court at Ravenna, and Eome was seldom 
the Roman henceforth an imperial residence. This no doubt contributed to 
the importance and independence of the Roman Pontiff. At Con- 
stantinople the Patriarch would be controlled by the presence of 
the Emperor, the jealousy of his Eastern rivals would act as a 
check upon the ambition of the Alexandrian primate, but at Eome 
there was no one to dispute the pre-eminence. 
The Goths Still further, the invasion of the Gothic nations in the next 

Ariarism century led to great results. Carthage, which had disputed the 
mto the ecclesiastical as well as the political sway of Eome, fell before the 
Vandals ; and the Arian heresy threatened rapidly to overspread 
the other Churches of the West. In this crisis she came to be 
regarded as the mainstay of Catholic truth, the common centre to 
which the Western Church, oppressed elsewhere, would look for 

i Concerning the story of Constantine's baptism by Sylvester, and his cession to that 
Bishop of sovereign rights in Borne and Italy, see Gibbon's Decline and Fall, &c, 
c. xlix. 

2 e. g. The unconciliatory spirit shown by Victor in the second cent, on the Easter 
controversy. The angry tone adopted by Stephen in his contest with Saint Cyprian on 
the question of heretical baptism. 

3 In the case of Paul of Samosata it was decreed, that he should be Bishop of 
Antioch, to whom the Bishops of Rome and Italy should address their letters. Mel- 
chiades, Bishop of Eome, was appointed to convene the Synod which sat upon the 
Donatist schism. 

4 A.D. 347. 



CONSEQUENCES OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OP CHRISTIANITY. 7 

sympathy and support. Such were the beginnings of that spiritual 
tyranny, which Rome was afterwards to assume in Christendom ; 
thus was the way paved for that dominion of which Gregory was 
to lay wide the foundations, and Hildebrand and Innocent to 
carry to an unexampled height. 

Though the development of Bitualisni and outward forms in the rites?anT e ° f 
fourth century properly belongs to the subject of archaeology ^rcmomes 
rather than of history, yet as indicating a feature of the Church in 
this a^e, we mav brieflv notice them. In then 1 character some 
may be described as being only the natural expression of Church 
life, some were symbolical and &lia,$ooz, in themselves, others, 
indeed, contain the seeds of future errors in doctrine and practice, 1 
and assumed an almost Judaical number and minuteness. 2 

So long as the Church was proscribed, and her worship attended LimrScaf 
with difficultv and danger, the careful observance of liturgical form3 in the 

^ . . . earlv Church. 

forms was next to impossible. Great secrecy was also maintained explained. 
concerning the sacred rites, to guard them from the blasphemy 
and insult of the Pagans. A tone of mystery was particularly 
observed in speaking of the Communion Office (Aarrovgy/a). Now 
that this necessity for silence no longer existed, liturgies were 
quickly published in the great Churches, which, with slight varia- 
tions in the order of their contents, bear manifest tokens of being 
framed upon one common unwritten type in use among the mem- 
bers of the early Church. 3 

While bearing witness against the superstitions of an idolatrous influence of 
world, the Church of the first three centimes would be inclined to upon the 
reject all outward ceremony, and shun religious aids which might Worship of 
bear a semblance to the usages of heathen worship. There now tne Church, 
begins a tendency to the other extreme, a desire to borrow from 
the pageantry of the Roman temples, and appeal more to the senses 
than to spiritual edification. 4 The great influx of heathen converts 
gave an impulse to this movement. To supply the loss of customs 
to which the multitude were attached, the Church provided herself 
with better things. The fence and dies festi of the Eoman calendar 
were superseded by an augmentation of Christian festivals. Christian 
hymns took the place of the religious odes sung to Zeus and 
Apollo. The ornaments and purple robe of the flamen and augur 
were reproduced in the splendid vestments of the Christian clergy. 
But the tendency unfortunately did not stop here. The invoca- 
tion of saints and martyrs, the adoration of relics, the meritorious 

1 Spanheiuvs Ecclesiastical Annals, cent. iv. 

2 So greatly was the number of ceremonial observances augmented that Augustine 
complains that the Jewish yoke was almost more tolerable than that laid upon'Chris- 
tians. Ep. 119, ad Januarium. 

3 Cf. Palmer's Orig. Liturgicse. Introd. vol. i. pp. 42, 44, &c. Also Trollope's 
Greek Liturgy of S. James, Introd, p. 18. 

4 The assimilation of heathen customs in the Church, is the subject of Middleton's 
Letter from Rome. 



8 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN THE FOURTH CENTURY. 

opinion of pilgrimages, and ascetic vows, showed an assimilation to 
some of the worst forms of heathen life. 1 The Genii and Penates 
were in time replaced by the tutelary saints, their propitiation was 
invoked, and offerings made at their shrines. 
a second Very much was perhaps owing to the intention of instructing 

Sndencyin 8 ^ ne more ignorant converts. The reverence paid to the visible 
the desire to cross, the great use of images and pictures, probably began from a 
heathen and desire of representing the historical facts of religion to the eye of 
converts. 11 ^ ne unlearned. 2 Almost all the great bishops from this age down- 
wards, distinguished themselves by zeal as teachers, and as com- 
pilers of Church services. This was still further the case when the 
barbarian nations embraced Christianity. 
a third The ritualistic tendency must have been not a little favoured by 

tendency in the encouragement now given to church building, and the external 
^ven^o 11186 decoration of the religious service. This is especially the age of 
church Ecclesiology. The aid of the arts was called in. Music, architecture, 
m s " painting, became the handmaids of religion. Churches were built 
which rivalled the ancient fanes of Ephesus and Greece. The 
temples and basilicce were often converted into houses of prayer, 
and Constantine, with Helena, the empress-mother, vied in zeal 
for the glory of Grod's house. 
Penitential This Formalism extended itself even to the penitential discipline 
discipline. f jfa e Q nurcn> j% became systematized. The flentes, audientes, 
substrati, and consistentes, marked the four stages through which 
excommunicate members had to pass before they could be re- 
admitted to the full privileges of the Church. 3 In like manner the 
catechumens who were candidates for admission, (competentes) 
were required to undergo a long and careful discipline, preparatory 
to receiving baptism, 
upon the Before we close this section, we may ask in what way the 

and^ha?- Hfe a ^ erec ^ circumstances in which the Church was now placed, acted 
acter. upon Christian character ? Cyprian and others had seen and lamented 

in their day, that ease and prosperity were more dangerous to the 

1 The invention of the Cross by Helena, mother of Constantine, (one of the Romish 
holy days in the calendar,,) is a symptom of the enthusiasm for relics and pilgrimages 
about this time. Gregory of Nyssa seems to have lifted up his voice against them at 
the outset. — "It is not necessary to go from Cappadocia into Palestine to the temple 
of the Lord, for every one of the faithful is a temple of the Lord." There were not 
wanting others, who steadily opposed the tendency of this period. Vigilantius, a 
presbyter of the Gallic Church, has been styled, " the protestant of his age." He was 
angrily answered by Jerome, (torn. ii. pp. 120-126.) Helvidius of Rome, Bonosus, 
bishop of -Sardica, and especially Jovinian, a Romish monk, denied the merits of 
celibacy and an ascetic life. 

2 On this ground they were advocated by Gregory the Great. Thus he writes to 
Serenus, bishop of Marseilles, who had condemned their use in his diocese, that 
images were " the books of the ignorant." (Lib. viii. Ep. 10.) Again, speaking of 
pictures in churches, he says : — ' ' ldcirco enim pictura in ecclesiis adhibetur, ut hi, qui 
litteras resciunt, saltern in parietibus videndo legant, quae leque in codicibus non 
valent." Epist. lib. ix. c. 106. But he deprecates their receiving worship. 

s neo<r?ik<zJ6vrLs, ccz^ouuivoi, faarisrrwrig, <ri>vi<rr«./xivoi. All these four grades are men- 
tioned by S. Basil. Epist. ccxvii. 



CONSEQUENCES OE THE ESTABLISHMENT OE CHEISTIANTTT. 9 

Christian than the sword of the Eoman executioner. 1 So it was 
now. The world's smiles are worse than its frowns. The gain of 
rank, honour, power, was too often the loss of charity, union, and 
personal holiness. The angry passions and party spirit which the 
annals of the Church now display, have furnished taunts for those 
who seek to reflect upon the Truth the faults of its professors. 
We must remember that many of those who took part in these 
controversies had been confessors in the evil days. The former 
history of the Church had called for the graces of courage and 
constancy more than for those of meekness and forbearance. Thus 
the stout resolution which would have saved men from falling into 
the guilt of the traditor or libellaticus^ when carried into religious 
contest, often made them harsh and angry disputants. Instead of 
our faith being shaken in the divine call of the Church by the evil 
conduct of its members, we may rather find firmest evidence of its 
being upheld by a higher power, when, amid so much of corruption 
and error, it could spread and take deep root around. 

We must remember, too, that at this time the ranks of the 
Church were filled by many who differed widely from the early 
converts. They had given up all for the gospel's sake ; but of those 
who now entered in crowds, some were led by ambition and the 
wishes of their sovereign, some fell in with the tide of opinion 
which had set that way, many were unconvinced and unconverted 
men. 2 Doubtless, the dangerous errors which arose in the Church 
were aggravated by many insincere disciples, who carried into 
theology the love of wrangling they had learnt in the schools of the 
sophists and rhetoricians. Yet we must not judge the character 
of the period by taking the conduct of a few intriguing bishops at 
an intriguing court. This period, like others in the history of the 
Church, will show instances of men who resisted the prevailing 
spirit ; and Athanasius, Basil, Ambrose, yield to none of the Ante- 
Nicene Church, as examples of primitive excellence. On its better 
side, the monastic life, which now became very prevalent, may be Prevalence of 

tiie mon&stic 

regarded as a reaction against the worldly objects and worldly life life account- 
by which so many were entangled. They felt that the absence of ed for * 
external persecution, and the free enjoyment of outward peace, was 
in truth the most subtle persecution of all. 3 - The religious 
dissensions of the time confirmed their love of solitude. And though 

1 See Remarks, vol. ii. pp. 50, 62. 

2 The following picture would seem to show that a large class of such persons were 
in the Church, — " At the council of Nicasa, besides the bishops summoned by Constan- 
tine, many were attracted thither from a desire of displaying their skill in argument. 
These men, says Socrates, spent their time previous to the meeting of the council in 
discussions, calculated to amuse rather than to edify, until they were at last silenced 
by a layman, who had been a confessor in the persecution, and who reminded them 
that Christ came not to teach dialectics, but to inculcate faith and good works." — 
Socrates, lib. i. c. 8. Sozomen, lib. i. c. 18. Bishop Kaye on the Council of Niccea. 

3 " Erras, mi frater, erras, si putas unquam Christianum persecutionem non pati. 
Tunc maxime oppugnasis, si te oppugnasi nescis." S. Hier ad. Heliod. 



10 



THE CHRISTIAN CHTJECH ES" THE EOTJBTH CENTUEY. 



they often carried the world with them, — though to escape temp- 
tation they sometimes forsook then duty to society, — yet it was a 
trial which earnest, self-denying men were making to assert the 
spiritual life of the Church, — to make that living sacrifice of self, 
which the politician Churchmen of the day were forgetting. 



SECTION III. — RESULTS OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF 

EMPIRE GENERALLY. 



CHRISTIANITY UPON THE 



That Chris- 
tianity did 
not lead to 
the decay of 
the Roman 
Empire. 



The speedy dismemberment of the Western Empire after the 
Fourth Century, suggests an inquiry whether it was in anywise 
accelerated by the great acts of Constantine's reign ? It was a 
common objection of the Pagan writers, that the misfortunes of the 
Republic might be laid to the door of the Christians, that the 
national calamities were in retribution for neglecting the ancient 
veneration for the gods of Olympus. Such was the frequent 
complaint in the time of Saint Augustin, and to which he replies 
in his work De Civitate Dei. Writers unfriendly to Christianity, 
are not slack to speak of the policy of Constantine as disastrous to 
the Roman state, and that by this event it was chiefly weakened. 1 
But so far from the one behig dependent upon the other, they have 
little or no relation. The germ of decay was in its own soil and 
constitution. How could it be otherwise ? Public spirit and 
social virtues were no more ; labour was deemed degrading, and 
left to slaves with no stake in the country for which they toiled ; 
the martial spirit of Rome had fled ; the pride of citizenship, which 
had made the legions invincible, was an empty name ; the army 
was recruited from the barbarian tribes. How can we wonder 
then that the fabric of Roman greatness tottered and fell before 
the rude shock of the Gothic nations ? Another, and higher 
mission was appointed for the Church, than to quicken the lifeless 
forms of a past age. It was to evangelize the barbarian conquerors, 
— to prepare the way for the civilization of modern Europe, — to 
impart of her life and character to the young and vigorous king- 
doms which were to rise from the ruins of the Roman power. 

Not that we are to suppose that the influence of Christianity 
was previously unfelt upon the habits and manners of the empire. 
The truth, which is likened to leaven in its working, could not but 
be otherwise. We are no longer presented with such hideous 
pictures of human depravity, as Rome saw under a Commodus or 
Caligula. Wickedness, at least such boastful, capricious wickedness 
as theirs, is unknown : vice was constrained to pay at least an 
outward homage to the law of righteousness. A greater merciful- 
ness showed itself in the character of the people, 2 a restraint was 



1 Thus the disingenuous author of the Decline and Fall, who insinuates on every 
occasion the ill-judged measure of placing power in ecclesiastical hands, or attaching 
importance to religious truths. 

2 The gladiatorial shows, cruenta spectacula, were suppressed by the Christian 



THE DECLINE OF PAGANISM. 11 

often put upon the abuse of tyranny, and the passions of fierce 
men, 1 and it is a valuable testimony which the infidel historian 
unwillingly bears, that " the privileges of the Church had revived 
a sense of order and freedom in the Eoman government." 2 

SECTION IV. — THE DECLINE OF PAGANISM. 

With the reign of Constantine begins what is called the aggres- 
sive warfare of the Church : though noticed in the following pages, 
yet a few remarks may be given in introduction. 

It was mainly as a political institution that Paganism had held 
its ground, that it did not expire when that support was with- 
drawn, owing to an element which roused it for a while into 
action. Philosophy had been the first to shake the popular belief 
in the old niythoWy ; it had now become its firmest ally. The Antagonism 

. . . ofPhilo- 

school of Alexandria had wedded Faith with speculation, and a sopny and 
section of this school, the Neo-Platonists, sought to revive the Cnnstiamt y. 
spirit of belief by understanding the gross fables of the heathen 
poets in an allegorical sense. They spoke of a Trinity as emana- 
tions of one sovereign source of light and creation ; they said that 
the rational Pantheon did but represent the operations of that 
universal power, and the persons of the gods were symbolical of 
the great mysteries of nature and of being. From Plotinus, the 
founder of this sect, to Proclus, in whom it ended, the ]STeo-Pla- 
tonists became the steadiest opponents of Christianity. 3 The more 
they were led to accept the old mythology as the basis of their 
mysteries, the more their hatred against the revelation by which 
it was displaced. From their ranks, in the last century, Porphyry 
had risen, and now in this, the Emperor Julian was to set it forth 
before the world. But the fruitless attempt of Julian showed how 
unreal the new Philosophy was, and how little it could do. Their 
theurgical pretensions ministered to intellectual pride, and widened 
the difference between the initiated and his fellows. The pan- 
theistic dream of man absorbed in the divine contemplation, was a 
poor resting-place for the hungry soul. Their ecstatic doctrine of 
the grossness of matter was but a poor substitute for the great 
truths of the Incarnation and Resurrection. The Xeo-Piatonists 
soon sank into insignificance, their science became an unintelligible 
jargon, their boasted converse with the spiritual world changed 
into assertions of magical powers, and the arts of jugglers and 
impostors. 

emperors. Const. Cod. xi. 43. Prudent, contra Symm. ii. 11, 12. The punishment 
of crucifixion was abolished by Constantine. A regulation was made for the visitation 
of prisons on the Lord's day. 

1 Compare the clemency of Theodosius to the city of Antioch, and his public penitence 
on the massacre of Thessalonica. The conduct of Alaric on the sack of Rome, is told 
by Angustin, de Civitat. Dei, lib. i. c. 1-6 ; Orosius, lib. vii. c. 39. 

2 Gibbon, Decline and Fall, c. xxi. 

3 Lactantius, Divin. Institut. lv. c. 2, 3. 



12 



THE CHRISTIAN CHUECH IN* THE EOITItTH CEKTtJRT. 



Worship of 
Pagans pro- 
scribed by 
the succes- 
sors of Con- 
stantine. 



Aggressions 
partly pro- 
voked by 
taunts of 
heathen. 



Origin of the 
word Pagan 
descriptive 
of present 
state of 
Polytheism. 



Now that Christianity had become the religion of the State, it 
was fenced in by penal enactments. Constantine, except in urgent 
cases, went no farther than to discountenance Pagan practices 
by his example. Though the more unclean and debasing cere- 
monies were prohibited, yet the worship of the temples was 
uninterrupted. But from Constantius to the reign of Yalentinian 
III., a more aggressive spirit showed itself in the Church, and the 
statute books of Roman law were filled with acts of increasing 
severity. The temples were despoiled or demolished, the sacrificia 
publica discontinued, Theodosius prohibits the superstitious arts of 
the ha?*uspices, and gives the deathblow to Paganism by forbidding 
the practice of immolation, and abolishing the relics of sacerdotal 
privileges. Later edicts made sacrifice, divination, or apostacy, a 
capital crime. 

The work of destruction was sometimes urged on by the conduct 
of the Pagans themselves. They invited the zeal of the Christians 
by declaring moderation to be the effect of fear, lest the gods 
should avenge the insults offered to their shrines. The attacks on 
the temples, in which the monks were most active, were often in 
retaliation for some heathen tumult and outrage : while it was 
well known that the Pagans lived in expectation of another Julian, 
for whom they bided their time. It may be doubted whether the 
sufferings of the Pagans were such as these severities would lead 
us to expect. Theirs was not a Faith to resist unto blood, and 
they could accommodate themselves with loose and pliant morality 
to the circumstances of the time. 1 Their position at the close of 
the fourth century may be estimated by the name which they then 
acquired. Polytheism had been banished from nearly all the large 
cities, and, for the most part, had its head in the pagi or bye- 
places of the country. 2 A few orators and poets still preserved a 
lingering affection for the religious forms of ancient Rome, but it 
was more a matter of taste than devotion. Among the bulk of 
the people its traces were well-nigh gone. 



1 Thus the long dissimulation of Julian's early years was even applauded by 
Libanius. Orat. Parental, c. ix. p. 233. 

2 For the derivation and history of the word Pagan, see Gibbon, Decline and Fall, 
c. xxi. note 173. Trench on the Study of Words, Lect Hi. p. 66. 



( 13 ) 



CHAPTER II. 

HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN THE FOURTH 

CENTURY. 

SECTION I. — THE REIGN OF CONSTANTINE. — A.D. 306-337. 

The prophecies of Jestjs Chkist regarding his Church, 1 the pre- a.d. 306. 
parations made by Him, prior to His ascension, for its establish- 
ment, 2 the causes of the opposition to which His religion was introductory 
subjected during the earlier ages of the Church, 3 the calumnies Kemarks - 
with which His disciples were assailed, and the persecutions 
which they heroically and patiently endured, 4 have already en- 
gaged our attention. The recollection of these things, taken in 
connection with the preliminary observations concerning the 
ecclesiastical history of the fourth century contained in the im- 
mediately preceding chapter, must have prepared the reader to 
expect some great change in the position of the Church. It had 
weathered a storm of " great tribulations." The ten persecutors — 
Nero, Domitian, Trajan, Antonine, Severus, Maximin, Decius, 
Valerian, Aurelian, and Diocletian — had almost exhausted the 
virulence of hate against it, but without success. And though 
treated by the Roman state as "the off-scouring of all things, 5 
the Christians had as yet presented a noble " spectacle unto the 
world, and to angels, and to men" of steadfastness and patient 
endurance. Is the era of Christ nearly run, then ? The maxim 
by which that may be decided Christians themselves have uttered, 
viz., " for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to 
nought; but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it." Judged 
upon this principle, grandly impartial in its spirit, what opinion 
must we form regarding the future of the Church ? One would 
say ; — such persecution cannot much longer be withstood without 
the whole body of sufferers being looked upon as leagued revoiters 
against the civil power, and thus bringing down upon themselves 
the whole force of the iron despotism of the State to subdue or 
exterminate them all ; and then, faith failing, defections must 
multiply, and apostacies increase, till the power and influence of 
the new faith be diminished ; and, at last, utter and irretrievable 
disorganization must result in defeat and submission. In a con- 
tention for mastery in the State, such a minority must succumb. 

1 Hind's Rise and Early Progress of Christianity, part i. p. 44. 

2 Ibid, partii. p. 62. 

3 Jeremie's^ Christian Church in the Third and Fourth Centimes, c. i. § 3. 

4 Ibid. c. ii. and iii. 

5 1 Cor. iv. 13. 



14 



THE CHRISTIAN CHTJECH IN THE EOTJETH CENTUET. 



The former 
state of the 
Church. 



a.d. 306. Such reasoning is perfectly valid, upon the hypothesis that 
Christianity is impregnated with no living energy beyond that of 
mere human opinion ; and if so, the converse must be equally true. 
If it grew, flourished, and increased in potency, in a ratio pre- 
cisely equalling the violence, injustice, and oppression of its anta- 
gonists, it must have been because it was permeated with the 
Life Divine. 

Hitherto we have seen the Church " troubled on every side, 
yet not distressed ; perplexed, but not in despair ; persecuted, but 
not forsaken ; cast down, but not destroyed ;" : yea, rather, despite 
of these things, we now see that as years advance, " all the build- 
ing, fitly framed together, groweth unto an holy temple in the 
Lord." 2 The manner in which the Church was rescued from 
violence, peril and danger, and "the kingdoms of this world" 
were led to become, nominally at least, " the kingdoms of our 
Grod and of His Christ," may not unfittingly be told in a biogra- 
phical sketch of him by whom this strange revolution was 
effected, and by whom the doctrines and precepts of our Lord 
Jesus Christ were first recognized as the true ground and basis of 
all good government. 

Caius Flavius Valerius Aurelius Claudius Constantine — 
whom his countrymen and historians generally have surnamed 
the Great, — son of the Emperor Constantius Chlorus, and his first 
wife Helena, was born, most probably, at Naissus, in Dacia, in 
a.d. 272. 3 His father was the son of Eutropius, a noble of Illy- 
ricuni, and Dardania, a niece of the Emperor Claudius ; his mother 
appears to have been the daughter of an innkeeper of Drepanum 
— now Trapani — in Sicily, with whom Constantius was legally 
united in marriage, as may be justly inferred from the fact, that 
Diocletian insisted upon a legal divorce between them, prior to 
the marriage of accommodation afterwards consummated between 
Theodora, the step-daughter of Maximian, and Constantius. 

As the dangers of Rome increased on every side, Diocletian 
thought it advisable to have some parties who had a personal 
stake in the prosperity of the empire, ready to resist any encroach- 
ments which might be attempted on its outskirts. To accom- 
plish this, he bethought him of appointing two generals, each to 
have a share in the imperial sovereignty, with the title of Caesar. 
In pursuance of this object, Maximian, his colleague, and he, chose 
respectively Constantius and Galerius. It was afterwards es- 
teemed politic to increase the intimacy of the interests of the 
Caesars and the Emperors by superadding family relationship 
thereto : hence, each adopted one of the young Caesars as his 
son, and ratified the compact by marriage contract — Constan- 



Parentage 
and birth of 
Constantine. 



Caesars 
appointed 
over the 
Empire. 



1 2 Cor. iii. 8, 9. 2 Ep h. ii. 21. 

3 Gibbon's Decline and Fall, c. xiv. 



GAXEEITTS — CONSTAKTIUS. 15 

tius accepting Theodora as his wife, and Galerius becoming the a.d. 306. 
husband of Valeria, daughter of Diocletian. To the heroic, war- 
disciplined Constantius, the government of the turbulent West 
— Hispania, Gaul, and Britain — was assigned. As a security 
for the faithful discharge of his duty, as well as an hostage for 
his subordination, his son, Constantine, was retained at the court, 
and under the care of Diocletian, where, though he was most 
carefully educated, he manifested much greater ability in warlike 
enterprises than in literary pursuits. In Egypt, under Galerius, 
he acquired honour, fame, the habit of command, and a reputation 
for affability and valour. On the first of May a.d. 305, Diocle- Abdication 
tian and Maximian simultaneously abdicated, and Constantius £ n d Ma2d- ian 
and Galerius were invested with the insignia of Empire. To mian. 
Galerius, his son-in-law, Diocletian entrusted the election of two 
Caesars to occupy the places from which they had been raised. 
Without waiting to consult his colleague, he nominated Daza, or 
Maximin, his nephew, and Severus, an officer of ability, entirely 
devoted to his interests and service. By this skilful arrangement, 
Maxentius, the son of Maximian, and the distinguished Constan- 
tine, whose bravery was well known, and whose ambition was 
both suspected and feared, were each excluded from the possession 
of that power to which they were both entitled to look. 

Constantius was mild in temper, moderate in ambition, un- 
skilled in intrigue, and averse to civil contention. Moreover, ill- 
health had cooled the fiery aspirations of ambition, so he acquiesced, 
without remonstrance, in the appointments which Galerius had 
made. This virtual submission on the part of Constantius, to 
whom, in right of precedency, the nomination strictly belonged, 
so emboldened Galerius that he besran to demean himself as if he 
were sole sovereign of the empire. The soldiery and the people 
disliking the arbitrary elevation thus conferred on the rustic 
Maximin, and the subservient Severus, to the special prejudice 
of their favourite Constantine, began to murmur. Absolutism is Constantine 
favourable to the commission of those crimes which decrease the ^tSn to 
number of aspiring competitors, and hence Constantius and Con- * id h his 
stantine began to entertain, perhaps unjustly, the worst suspicions 
concerning the designs of Galerius, more especially as a great 
many frivolous obstacles seemed to be raised up to impede Con- 
stantine' s departure to aid his father in the West — a step con- 
sidered requisite not only on account of the increasing infirmity 
of Constantius, and the growing insubordination of the Britons, 
but also as a preservative against the easy fulfilment of the 
machinations of a wily and unscrupulous monarch, who was more 
likely to hide one wrong by the performance of a greater, than to 
acknowledge it with regret, and amend it with promptitude and 
magnanimity. At last, however, leave was reluctantly granted, 
and Constantine, in great fear of the withdrawal of the grudgingly 



16 THE CHEISTIAjS- CHUKCH IN THE EOTJRTH CENTUEY. 

a.d. 306. given consent, hurried at an almost fabulous speed from N"ico- 
media (Jsnikmid) to the Western coast of Gaul, where he arrived 
just in time to head, in company with his father, the legions 
about to wage war upon the rebels of Britain. In the objects of 
this war, Constantius succeeded. The Northern Barbarians 
were repressed, if not actually defeated ; but just as success had 
crowned the expedition, his feeble health gave way, and he had 
to relinquish his power and honour. As he lay in the agonies of 
death in the imperial palace at York, he proclaimed Constantine 

The soldiery his heir, and ^desired the legions to acknowledge him as Emperor. 

stantine^m- To this request they acceded, not more through love of their 

peror. i a te l ea d er) than admiration of the stately and valorous Constan- 

tine; and, therefore, as soon after the decease of his father as 
decency permitted, they hailed him as their chief. There is no 
way of opposing a foe— especially if armed with sovereign power 
and excited by envy — so good as that of placing one's self on an 
equality with him. Constantine knew that " if he wished to live, 
he must determine to reign ;" not only ambition, but the instinct 
of self-preservation combined to make him accept the office, titles, 
and state, of which the imperial purple was but the outward 
symbol. 

In order to soften the hate and soothe the jealousy of Galerius, 
he thought it expedient to write to him disclaiming desire for an 
eminence so great, apologizing for the affectionate force to which 
he had yielded, and intimating his assumption of the sovereignty 
as desired. Galerius, heated by passion, refused to ratify the vote 
of the legions of the West, appointed Constantine the lowest 
Caesar in the empire, and elevated his creature, Severus, to the 
throne of an Augustus. This slight Constantine did not think it 
politic to resent, and contented himself, in the meantime, with 
the jurisdiction awarded him, viz., the provinces which had been 
governed by his father. Passing from Britain into Gaul, he op- 
posed and defeated the Alemanni and the Franks who had 
invaded that territory, and most barbarously, although quite in 
consonance with the customs of that time, delivered the captive 
leaders to the wild beasts u to make a Roman holiday.' ' 

Malentius Maxentius, the son of Maximian, did not feel inclined to be 

pushed, by the elevation of Severus, so rudely from the throne to 
which rank, birth, and alliance gave him a prior and superior 
title ; and could still less brook that Constantine should seize and 
hold dominion, while he remained in actionless obscurity. More- 
over, the time seemed ripe for some movement. Galerius had 
offended the Roman citizens by daring to tax them like the 
common tributaries of the Empire ; and, besides, he was oppor- 
tunely absent in the East. Maxentius, who appears to have re- 
sided near Rome, put himself forward as the defender of the 
dignity and liberties of the Romans. The Senate, the soldiery, 



CIYIL WAR. 17 

2nd the populace besought Maximian to re-assume the purple — a a.d. 307. 
request with which he not unwillingly complied. He then created 
Maxentius his imperial colleague ; and an insurrection ensued. Civil war. 
Severus was deputed to subdue this revolt ; but his troops aban- 
doned him, and the gates of Rome were strongly garrisoned by 
the revolters. In dismay, he fled to Ravenna, in the hope of 
receiving help from Galerius, by sea; disappointed in this, he 
capitulated, and, with many protestations of respect, was gra- 
ciously permitted to choose the mode in which he wished to die. 

Galerius was, however, hastening" on, with the anxious eager- 
ness of one who has wrongs to avenge as well as power to preserve ; 
and the diplomatic Maximian saw the need of help from Constan- 
tine, if it could possibly be had. To gain this, despite of the in- 
firmities of age, he crossed the Alps, entered Gaul, and began 
negotiations with the Csesar of the West. Constantine perceived Maximian 
that each dissension among the candidates for empire increased the of Constan- 
certainty of the success of his own designs, and cautiously permitted tme * 
himself to be thought an ally, although he never led his troops 
beyond the frontier of the Western Ccesarate. Maximian offered 
to raise him to the office of Augustus, and he accepted the offer. 
By marrying Fausta, the daughter of Maximian, and the sister of 
Maxentius, he enhanced his own value in the State, drew them 
more closely to himself, and yet retained the right of independence. 
The marriage was celebrated with all due solemnity and magnifi- 
cence, at Aries, a.d. 307. 

When Galerius entered Italy, he found a powerful confederacy ^ea 6 t^ USre " 
resolved on opposing him, and though he pushed impetuously for- 
ward as far as Narni — sixty miles from Rome — he found it im- 
possible to achieve a single success, and decided on making advances 
toward a reconciliation, and gaining concessions. " When swords 
are out, soft words ne'er turn their edges ;" so this offer of friend- 
ship, and these interested proposals for accommodation, were firmly 
rejected, and he found it necessary to retreat. Returning to the 
Illyrian provinces, he rewarded fidelity, and gained an important 
ally to himself, by bestowing the honour of Augustus upon his 
deputy Licinius, whom he had appointed to act as Caesar during 
his absence. This proceeding displeased Maximin, and he de- 
manded a similar honour from Galerius, who was compelled, some- 
what reluctantly, to grant it. Thus Rome had the singular fate 
of being governed, or, more properly speaking, misgoverned by six ®£ S^?" 
parties, each holding imperial state, claiming imperial honour and Roman 
obedience, yet divided from each other by interest or passion, and mpir< 
without fixed and definite relations amongst themselves, or towards 
the people. Such a state of things could not long continue. The 
nervous jealousy of men in power has become proverbial. A dis- 
pute soon arose between the hot-headed incapable Maxentius and 
his father, as to the right of sovereignty vested in the latter. On 

c 



18 



THE CHKISTIA^ CHURCH TS THE T0T7ETH CEXTUET. 



a.d. 309. the question being decided against him, Maximian retired to 
Illyria ; but Galerius having no friendly feelings towards him, soon 
ejected him from his province of the Empire. He then sought, 
and obtained refuge with Constantine in Gaul ; but there, during 
the absence of his son-in-law on a warlike expedition near the 
Rhine, he ungratefully attempted to excite the soldiery to revolt, 
and was just renewing negotiations with Maxentius, when Con- 
stantine, by forced marches, reached Massilia (Marseilles), and 
defeated the scheme. Although generously, or at least politicly, 
pardoned for this offence, he was afterwards permitted to choose 
the kind of death he preferred, for having attempted the assassina- 
tion of Constantine : he was accordingly put to death, a.d. 309 — 
and reported to have committed suicide. 

The relations between Constantine and Maxentius were now 
changed. Lukewarm friendship became hostile rivalry. When, 
therefore, Galerius died, a.d. 311, of a loathsome and fearful dis- 
ease, 1 Maxentius, having vented his spite by ordering all the statues 
raised in honour of Constantine to be defaced, prepared an army to 
assert his prerogative as the sole legitimate Augustus. The Romans 
had learned experimentally, that Maxentius was not a man fitted 
to dignify his office, and fearful of the miseries to which his rash 
and ill-designed measures might consign them, they sent an 
embassy to Constantine conjuring him, if he loved Rome, to come 
to the rescue of the Empire. This gave Constantine the very plea 
which his politic ambition wished. He placed himself at the head 
of ninety thousand infantry, and eight thousand cavalry, led them 
across the Alps, captured Susa, defeated an army near Turin, 
marched triumphantly onwards towards Verona, where he fought 
a bravely contested battle, passed on to Rome, which he reached 
Oct. 28, a.d. 312, and on the same day found the army of Maxen- 
tius arranged in order of battle there. The warfare was fierce, and 
the contest severe, but at length the hardy veterans of the West 
overcame the soldiery of Rome, who only gained the last distinction 
of heroes, — that of covering the field with then bodies. In the 
subsequent retreat Maxentius, in attempting to cross a bridge of 
boats intentionally weakened by himself as a snare for Constantine, 
was drowned in the Tiber ; and Constantine, entering Rome, was 
greeted by the Senate as Emperor. In commemoration of this 
event, the arch which bears his name was voted and erected. 
Moderation and clemency distinguished the victor, and his popu- 
larity increased rapidly. Meanwhile, the Emperors of the East, 
with deep personal interest, awaited the issue of this contest, well 
aware that its results would materially influence then fate. Prior 
to his commencing hostilities, Constantine had detached Licinius 
from Maxim in, and gained him to his interests, by offering him 
his favourite step-sister, Constantia, in marriage. Licinius had ac- 
1 Morlus pedicular Is. Euseb. Hist. E. lib. 8, c. 16. 



Constantine 
is conjured 
to save the 
Empire. 



Constantine 
proclaimed 
Emperor by 
the Senate. 



LldNTTTS — CONSTANTINE. 19 

cepted the offer. On this becoming known, Maxentius and Maxiinin a.d. 313. 
thought it wise to equalize the balance of power, by entering into 
an arrangement of a similar description. While the marriage fes- 
tivities of Licinius were going forward, at Milan, Constantine was 
called to the Rhine to drive back an irruption of the Allemanni ; 
and Licinius himself shortly afterwards learned that Maximin was 
laying Bithynia waste, and threatened to despoil the richest portions 
of Asia Minor. Just as he had advanced as far as Adrianople with 
an army of seventy thousand men, the Illyrian cohorts, numbering 
thirty thousand, under the skilful leadership of Licinius, defeated 
the enormous host. Maximin fled to Tarsus, where he died by 
poison, a.d. 313. The glory of this conquest, however, was 
tarnished by wanton cruelty and unprovoked aggression. Licinius 
murdered the son of the late Emperor Severus, the son of his patron 
Gralerius, the wife and the daughter of Diocletian, and many 
private individuals. 

These events had rid Eome of four of her superfluous sovereigns. 
But two such Emperors — the one insatiable in ambition, the other 
envious and full of treachery — could not long hold power in unity 
and friendship. A quarrel shortly afterwards ensued. Accounts 
differ as to the manner and matter of this quarrel ; but they agree 
in the fact, that the two Emperors met in hostile array at Cibilae, 
in Pannonia, where, after a sanguinary conflict, Licinius was van- Constantine 
quished, and compelled to flee, a.d. 314. On his failure, he con- Licinius. 
f erred the dignity of Caesar on Yalens, an Illyrian general. Of this 
appointment Constantine disapproved, and he insisted on the 
degradation of the new Caesar. The trial of battle having gone 
against Licinius, he consented to resign Pannonia, Dacia, Dal- 
matia, Greece, and Macedon, reserving to himself dominion over 
Syria, Egypt, Asia, and Thrace ; after which, he slew Yalens. It 
was further stipulated that two sons of Constantine should be made 
Caesars in the West, and the son of Licinius similarly elevated in 
the East. 

For eight years, no division between the rulers disturbed the 
tranquillity of the Eoman Empire. But it is seldom that imperial 
greatness displays the magnanimity that can brook a rival ; and Renewal of 
Constantine, knowing that Licinius had lapsed into some unpopular ndniusmd 
vices, and had as a means of offending him, begun to persecute the Constantine. 
Christians, declared war against him. Licinius, roused by the 
tidings, threw off his vices, and, re- assuming the character and 
habits of an able general, surprised his friends and astonished his 
enemies. He was, however, after an heroic resistance, defeated 
successively, at Adrianople, Byzantium, and Chalcedon, after which 
he besought pardon and life from the conqueror at Nicomedia. 
This request, seconded by the tears and entreaties of his wife, the 
step-sister of Constantine, was granted with insulting pity ; he was 
removed to Thessalonica, and not long after, upon some ill-defined 



20 THE CHEISTIAiST CHTJECH IN THE EOTJETH CE^TUET. 

a.d. 323. and not very clearly proven charge of traitorous conduct, he was 
condemned to death. The younger Licinius, Caesar of the East, 
shortly afterwards underwent a similar fate, and Constantine he- 
came sole sovereign of the Empire of Borne, a.d. 323. 

This succinct recital of the chief events bv which Constantine 
— the first avowedly Christian Emperor — became "the foremost 
man in all the world," seemed necessary as a key to the com- 
prehension of the various fortunes of the Church in its external 
relations to the State during the period included in this chapter. 
The Reia- The Church is no visibly separate entity ; it is intimately inter- 

tween the woven with the destiny of the human race. It is not an isolated 
Society. and comrriunity or empire with low aims and political jealousies ; but 
an economy aggressive, progressive, and diffusive, which mingles 
with institutions and changes their character, superintends legal 
enactments and softens and refines them, influences the thoughts 
and the actions of men, and purifies and ennobles their whole 
nature. Its mild yet steady antagonism to all that has a tendency 
to deprave, whether in the heart of the individual or in the body 
politic, in the thoughts and designs of men or in their manners, 
laws, and institutions ; its perpetual warfare against favourite and 
cherished vices, mistaken faiths, and inward or outward sins, give 
it a pre-eminence in interest over every other element in history. 
Yet, because it had not, at this time, been embodied in a corporate 
form, recognized as an agent in the production or regulation of 
events, or reckoned among the potencies by which society is led 
onwards, in honourable endeavour, to civilization and refinement : 
because its life was hid in the temporal activities which operated 
around and upon it, unconsciously acquiring from it the e - leaven" 
of which they stood so much in need, it had not yet been regard- 
ed as an historic reality. Hence, we must trace in the temporal 
affairs of the time, the results in the production of which it mingled, 
and the occurrences in civil life which tended to the development 
of its functions, and enabled it, not only actively, but recognizedly, 
to enter upon its duties, and to discharge and fulfil its God-given 
and God-blessed mission. 

Having before us, then, the record of the external life of the 
Roman Empire, let us endeavour to comprehend how it happened 
that in this time, of all others, the Christian Church first acquired 
a distinct, recognized position, its priesthood became the heirs of 
the heathen hierarchs, and pagan Home the centre of Christian 
faith, ritual, and influence. 

The persecutions, partly reaching into the period included in this 
chapter, to which Christians were exposed under the edict of Dio- 
cletian, have already been detailed : l it belongs to us here to de- 
scribe the progress of that gradual revolution by which the Church, 

1 Jeremie's History of the Christian Church in the Second and Third Centuries, c. iii. 



THE CHURCH, ITS MISSION. 21 

ceasing to be an object of persecution, became an organized A. D. 323, 
power, first recognized by, then incorporated with, the State. 

Christianity is, in its earlier developments, a thought — gradually How the 
it works itself into the life. Possessed of living energy, it assimi- comes nabie 
lates and converts, as all life does, opposite things to its own uses *? persecu- 
— to itself. So soon as it begins to do so, conservatism becomes 
alarmed, "things as they are" are imperilled. The heathen cultus 
(religion) is uniformly a State agent, and any attempt at its sub- 
version is easily brought under the category of treasonous acts. 
Hence the origin of persecution. The feeling thus called into 
active exercise is no doubt aggravated and intensified by the natural 
repugnance of the sinner to all that attempts to convince him of 
" sin, righteousness, and a judgment to come," as well as the 
egotism which induces the carnal man to entertain repellant hate 
towards those who assume, in act or speech, but especially in the 
privilege of advice-giving, an air of superiority, or pretend to rise 
above the common level of conduct prevalent, at any given era, 
among men. Other more patent causes have already been noticed, 1 
and need not here be repeated. 

Whenever men hold opinions which seek an outward embodi- 
ment in practice, the desire of propagation is felt, and those who 
are stirred by this wish cannot rest contented until they succeed, 
in some measure, in their design of ruling and swaying the activi- 
ties of mankind. That which governs them as individuals, they 
are anxious to see controlling many, as a society, and, mayhap, 
ultimately conforming and subordinating to their given form of 
faith, a nation or the world. This is not only the desire, but the ^ > Mission 
mission of Christians. Hence, in the early ages, the Church church. 
(IkkKwio) was a company of saints, — (coetus sanctorum?) a collective 
term for an assemblage of (sketch) those who were called " from 
the power of Satan unto Grod." 2 When men so associate, especially 
in despotic States, with no visible organization except such as, being 
unrecognized by the government, seems to attach them to each 
other by detaching them from their fellow-subjects, and con- 
centres then' faith round a creed, which in some instances compels 
them, as if with one consent, to rebel against, and refuse to obey, 
or conform to, some legally recognized custom, ceremony, or ob- 
servance, they become obnoxious to that hatred and suspicion 
which men feel against secret leagues, whose purpose they know 
not, whose aims they do not comprehend, and whose designs, if 
evil, they are powerless to circumvent. For a time, therefore, it 
seems inevitable that any such body should endure the malice of 
envy, the jealousy of power, the antagonism of custom, and the 

1 Jeremie's History of the Christian Church in the Second and Third Centuries, c 
i. sec. 3. 



2 EKx\7i<r'iu, — an assembly of men solemnly convoked. Thucyd. ii. 22. The great 
(Athenian) assembly of the people, Thucyd. viii. 97, Herod, hi. 143, Xenop. i. 68. 
oikos ixKknc-ias — the house of the Church, Euseb. Hist. E. vii. 30. 



a Christian. 



22 THE CHRISTIAN CHTTBCH IN THE EOUETH CEKTUET. 

a.d. 323. repression of law. But when trials, fiery and severe, have proven 
not only their steadfastness, but their innocence, and convinced the 
most jealous by meek submission to wrong of their honesty of 
purpose, however mistaken their zeal may appear, they "put to 
silence the ignorance of foolish men," and persecution becomes 
paralyzed. A plausible reason can no longer be given to the con- 
science, and those who have thus worn " the ornament of a meek 
and quiet spirit," at last receive "the garment of praise for the 
spirit of heaviness." 

~No ambitious man could fail to perceive, while studying as he 
must have done " the signs of the times," that the olden supersti- 
tions of Rome, and the rituals founded upon them, had become 
effete, that new beliefs were requisite to infuse fresh life and re- 
newed vigour into those things which were now mere mummeries, 
and that the gratitude of the oppressed, the approval of the merci- 
ful, the respect of the intelligent, and the tacit consent of the 
Constantine wavering, would become his who should countenance, and, if need 
were, patronize such opinions as might enable men to weave their 
religious creed around principles capable of guiding the practices of 
life. To such an one the patient endurance, general integrity, and 
superiority to worldly influences, for which the early Christians 
were remarkable, must have seemed strong evidences that some 
higher principle than that which regulated other men, was trans- 
fused into the Christian character. 

Constantine was ambitious and politic, but we must not, there- 
fore, hastily conclude that his early protection of, and ultimate ad- 
hesion to the religion of Jesus, were merely, or even chiefly, 
master-strokes of a consummate policy. We have almost every 
evidence to the contrary. We know that his father, Constantius 
Chlorus, respected the Christians, and had them about him in the 
most honourable offices both in his palace and personal retinue ; 
that while he was Caesar, though he was bound to execute the de- 
crees of Diocletian and Maximian, he employed only the minimum 
of persecution, demolishing then churches, but respecting and pro- 
tecting their persons. During his short enjoyment of imperial 
power, he inaugurated a tolerant policy, and left not only a general 
precept, but an operative example as a directory to his son. It 
does not appear that Constantine was at a very early age under 
those serious convictions of personal sin, and influenced by that 
true faith in Christ which some panegyrists ascribe to him. We 
cannot reconcile his treatment of the leaders of the Franks and 
Allemanni with this hypothesis, yet we must acknowledge that 
considerable progress in an acquaintance with the dictates of true 
humanity, if not in Christian enlightenment, is perceptible in the 
clement exercise of his victory over Maxentius. Indeed, in the 
interval which lies between these two events, religious faith seems 
to have been gradually growing up within him, although it is a 

% 



CO^STAjSTIjSTE's vision. 23 

difficult thing to judge of the internal feelings of one between whose a.d. 313. 
firmest convictions and facile policy, there seems to have been a 
continual struggle. At all events, he appears to have been the 
active agent in bringing about the tolerant policy towards Christ- 
ianity, which resulted in the edict of a.d. 311, signed by Galerius, 
Licinius, and himself. Although, however, the precise date of 
his conversion, and even the motives which led to it, have been 
made topics of dispute, no one can doubt that the effects of that 
event, even yet, mightily influence the interests, progress, and 
fate of nations. The first distinct and visible sign of his changed 
opinions or new policy was given during his preparation for, or on 
his way towards the contest with Maxentius. To account for this, 
a story is recorded which seems too closely modelled in its essential, 
i.e., miraculous, features on the calling of St. Paul, 1 to be implicitly 
believed. It runs somewhat thus : — While in his camp, resting Constan- 
after a lengthy march, and on the eve of engaging in a war, on 
which not only his fate, but that of the Empire and the Church 
depended, Constantine was favoured by the Most High with a 
special and heaven-sent dream, advising him to inscribe on the 
shields and banners of his soldiery the sacred monogram of Jesus 
Christ, (IHS,) and to go forth thus equipped, nothing doubting, to 
victory in the name of the Lord ; in the heavens, too, just a little 
below the sun, a cross of flame appeared, with the words — " In hoc 
signo vinces" — "Under this standard thou shalt conquer," written 
thereon ; afterwards, Jesus himself came to him, and commanded 
him to make a standard like unto the cross which he had seen, and 
conquer under it in His name; whereupon, "not disobedient unto 
the heavenly vision," he performed what was desired, and caused a 
standard — which he named Labarum — to be made in the form ap- 
pointed ; and the victory at the Milvian bridge rewarded his faith, 
and obedience. Under the same standard, he afterwards overcame 
Licinius, and returning triumphant, planted the standard of the 
cross as the safeguard of the Empire, and appointed the religion 
of the cross as that which should hereafter consecrate the future 
of Home. 

Without denying the whole of the agencies employed to give was it 
magnificence and glory to him who founded the Church on the n 
throne of the Caesars, impeaching the honesty of the original 
authorities, or doubting the royal word of Constantine, we may, 
without difficulty, so far as regards the historical results, dispense 
with the implied miracle. 2 It was a bold stroke of ingenuity and 
policy to make the symbol of ignominy, guilt, and pain, an honour- 
able ensign, and could not have been undertaken by an ambitious 
man, but as the result of strong faith, an intimate acquaintance 

1 Acts ix. 1-9, xxii. 1-21, and xxvi. 9-21. 

2 On the general question^ see J. H. Newman's Miracles of Scripture. 



24 TEE CHRISTIAN CHTJECH IK THE EOTJETE CEXTUET. 

a.d. 314. with the spirit of the times, and confidence in himself to become 
its leader and exponent. In saying this, we do not mean to in- 
sinuate that he attempted deceit, indeed we intend to draw quite a 
different inference. 

An ambitious leader must carefully calculate the kind of feelings 
which may be most effectively employed to increase the enthusiasm 
of those through whose agency his schemes are to be accomplished. 
He will not use aught of which the result would be doubtful ; but 
as he perceives that the power of old associations of thought has 
become weak, he will ally himself to those new ideas which are 
latent in all minds, and wait but for development, to assume the 
rank and importance of principles of action. Neither would a 
judicious general seek to enlist in his favour a spurious enthusiasm, 
or stake his success upon the effect upon others, of a symbol which 
upon himself was totally effectless. Hence, we have every reason 
to believe that Constantine really and truly felt impressed by the 
majestic spectacle of love, endurance, and purity, which the per- 
sonal character of Jesus presented, fully believed in the sacredness 
of His office, and the truth of His divine claims. If he was so, it is 
^accounted ^ u ^ ^tle to be wondered at, that in the hour of excitement, when 
for. he was about to hazard life, state, and reputation, upon success, he 

should feel a seemingly preternatural enthusiasm animating him ; 
that an excited fancy should have painted the heavens with favour- 
able omens, and blazoned a standard which told so expressly of 
" hope against hope" ultimately triumphant, and glorified. As 
after years rolled on, and success followed success — when memory 
had become obscured, in consequence of the multiplicity of objects 
and events which had graven their images upon it — when self-ela- 
tion, the usual result of an unchequered career of conquest, had be- 
come developed, and glory and magnificence, flattery and homage, 
attended all his steps — there is still less to astonish us that, in an 
age when miracles, as almost every day occurrences, were devoutly 
believed in, he, too, should first fancy, then believe himself to be a 
favourite of Heaven, and speak to others of the strongly impressed 
excitements of that time, as if they had borne the stamp of well- 
authenticated facts. 1 

There can be as little doubt that if he ascribed his success to 
the fact, that he had " taken up his cross and followed Jesus," he 
must have felt some gratitude towards him to whom he confessed 
his obligations. He had already taken advantage of the illness of 
Galerius, a.d. 311, to prevail upon him to proclaim peace to the 
Christian Church. This beneficence he had now the power to 
extend, and he did so. He exempted the clergy from personal 
taxation, and from civil duties, granted privileges to the Church, 
and bestowed donations to aid its progress. When the Donatist 

i Euseb. De Vit. Cons. lib. i. c. 28-30, ii. c. 7-9. 



THE EDICTS OF CO^STASTrtfE. 25 

Schism 1 disturbed the Church, he called a Synod to meet at Aries A.D. 321. 
to consider the question. At this council the Donatists were de- synod of 
feated, and some ill feeling was excited. Although he discoun- Arles » A,D 
tenanced, he did not prohibit, the practice of the olden rites of 
pagan worship ; but he strove, by softening the laws, and ameliorat- 
ing the condition of the people — avowedly under the influence of 
Christian principles — to place before his subjects the best possible 
grounds for forsaking the old, and embracing the new, religion. 
He abolished crucifixion — a punishment he thought none worthy 
to bear, since the cross had been hallowed by the death of Christ — ■ 
forbade the flagellation of those who were in default to the revenue, 
suppressed establishments of debauchery, repealed the laws against 
celibates, prohibited concubinage, interdicted the nocturnal assem- 
blies and obscene rites of the pagans, introduced a milder and more 
humane discipline into the prisons, ordered the children of the poor 
to be maintained at the public expense, and refused to enrich the 
imperial fisc with the wealth of criminals, but consigned it to the 
support of their wives and children. He increased the cost and 
difficulty of getting divorces, defrayed the expenses of ecclesiastical 
edifices out of his own treasury, devised a plan for the emancipation 
of slaves, and in many other ways, manifested a desire for the 
establishment of peace, the permanency of order, and the propaga- 
tion of true religion. 

In March, a.d. 321, he issued an edict for the observance of The Edicts of 
the Sabbath ; in a.d. 324, he published an exhortation in Latin, C(mst ™^ 
which Eusebius, his biographer, translated into Greek, to all his 
subjects, to forsake superstition and worship the one God and 
Saviour, Jesus Christ ; and in a.d. 325, he summoned the first 
universal council of the Church at Nicsea (Xice) in Bithynia, for 
the purpose of settling the Arian controversy, 2 transported the 
bishops from their several sees at his own expense, and to add 
dignity to its councils, attended it himself. On July 25, a.d. 325, 
the first anniversary of his accession to the sole sovereignty of the 
Empire, he gave a grand banquet to the fathers of the council, 
presented them many gifts, and placed much alms at then disposal. 
In the same year, he abolished gladiatorial exhibitions, and replaced 
this inhuman punishment by condemnation for a term of 3-ears in 
the public works of the State. An edict of this same year invited 
any subject to address any complaint regarding the conduct of any 
of his governors or magistrates to him personally, and promised 
immediate attention to the cause thus brought before him. In 
a.d. 326, we find him at Milan, in Eome, and at Sirmium. in Pan- 
nonia. Constantine had by his first wife, Minervina, a son, named 
Crispus, whose bravery and ambition tended to harass his father, 
and especially to render his step-mother fretful and uneasy. The 

1 See this topic treated of in full, c. iv. 

2 See this heresy and its several sub-sections fully explained, c. iv. 



26 



THE CHBISTUlN" CHTJHCH IN THE EOUETH CEl^TrET. 



Death of 
Crispus. 



Fonndation 
of Constan- 
tinople, 



A.i>. 330. jealous suspicion of the father seems to have encouraged the envy 
and hate of Fausta, to prefer a false accusation of having attempted 
to seduce her, against her step-son, for which offence he was deca- 
pitated ; but when the falsity of his wife became apparent, Con- 
stantino, in revenge, had her suffocated by the steam of her hath. 
Many other executions gave plain evidence that Constantine was 
trembling for the security of his throne. He began to think that 
magnificence, prodigality, and unsparing severity in the execution 
of the law were the only means of imparting stability to his 
Empire, and glory to his name. To effect the first of these, he 
began to build a new capital, to be named after himself, on the 
site of the ancient Byzantium, which had been almost wholly de- 
stroyed, during the war with Licinius. The gorgeous city of 
Constantinople was solemnly dedicated to the Virgin Mary, in 
May a.d. 330. The spot was most eligible, in mid-station, be- 
tween Europe and Asia ; the soil around it was fertile, the climate 
temperate, the harbour capacious, safe, and well guarded by the 
Hellespont and Bosphorus. The seven hills on which its multitu- 
dinous structures were reared, commanded a wide extent of Europe 
and Asia, while the entrance from the former continent admitted 
of ready and easy defence ; it was thus most admirably adapted for 
becoming the centre and capital of a great monarch, under whom 
all southern Europe bowed, to whom Western Asia did homage, 
and by whoni the provinces which margined the southern shores 
of the Mediterranean were governed. It was, besides, a Christian 
city. Although it was adorned and enriched with treasures of art 
taken from all parts of the Roman Empire, no heathen temple 
polluted its precincts, but fourteen churches, with palatial resi- 
dences for the clergy, afforded the opportunity of worship to all its 
inhabitants. Grandeur, wealth, and security, all united and con- 
centred to make the city worthy of the name it bore. Amid all 
these cares, he still had time for war and theological polemics. He 
defeated the Goths who dwelt on the north bank of the Ister, 
(Danube), and thus secured peace for his latter years. In a.d. 328, 
under the influence of Constantia, his step-sister, he recalled several 
Arian bishops whom he had exiled, and wished them re-admitted 
into the communion of the Church. This Athanasius opposed, and 
a controversy was waged between them on this subject, till the 
Emperor's death. This event happened at the palace of Aquyrion, 
in the neighbourhood of Nicomedia, whither he had retired for the 
benefit of its more genial air, and to try, by the use of warm baths, 
to recruit his health, wasted by unintermitting fatigue, and perhaps 
still more by remorse, May 22, a.d. 337. He was sixty-four years 
of age, and had reigned thirty years and ten months. Although 
he had done so much for the advancement of Christianity, and 
although a professed convert to its truth, he was only a catechumen, 
and was not " baptized into Christ" until on his death-bed, when 



Constantine 
an Arian. 



Constan- 
tine's death. 



CHAEACTEE OF CONSTANTINE. 27 

that sacrament was administered to him, it is said, by an Arian a.d. 337. 
bishop. His body was transferred to Constantinople, where, decked, 
in the livery of monarchy, the mockery of homage was paid him, 
and the forms of court-life were theatrically gone through towards 
the dead body of one of the greatest monarchs who had swayed the 
sceptre of dominion over, and revived the ancient glory of, the 
Empire of Rome. 

The character of Constantine has been represented in a manner Character of 
so widely different by Christian and by Pagan writers, that the onstantme * 
only safe path for the modern Historian seems to consist in choos- 
ing a medium between the praises of the one and the censures of 
the other. As a military commander, and, in many respects, as a 
statesman, his talents will ever be held in high estimation. Beset 
by extraordinary difficulties at the commencement of his career, he 
surmounted them with consummate dexterity and courage. His 
operations, no less vigorously executed than ably conceived, struck 
awe into the Barbarians, and arrested their destructive progress. 
Yet in the midst of the most active operations, as he moved from 
city to city, he still found time which he could devote to private 
study and composition. And, whatever opinion may be entertained 
of his own literary powers, it cannot be denied that he deserves to 
be considered as a patron of learning. His chastity and temperance, 
virtues very uncommon in a situation of unlimited power and in 
times of extreme degeneracy, were acknowledged. His natural 
love of justice and good government may be fairly inferred from 
the number of excellent laws of which he was the author. 1 At the 
same time, it must be allowed, that these brilliant qualities were 
not unaccompanied by defects. Fond of ostentatious parade to a 
degree surprising in a mind which was wont to outsoar the frivolous- 
ness of narrower spirits, he had recourse to means which oppressed 
his subjects, and alienated their affections. 2 A certain facility of 
disposition led him to commit important offices to men unworthy 
of his favour. 3 His faults, and particularly a tendency to cruelty 
and prodigality, were much more conspicuously displayed in the 
latter than in the earlier part of his life. 4 

SECTION II THE SONS OF CONSTANTINE — CONSTANTENUS U.., CONSTANS, AND 

CONSTANTIUS. A.D. 837-363. 

Upon the death of Constantine, the army, and subsequently the The ih ? ee 
Senate, expressed their determination to acknowledge no other Constantine 
emperors than his sons, although Daimatius Csesar and Hanni- Emperors? 

1 Civilibus artibus et liberalibus studiis deditus, affectator justitia3 et amoris, quem 
omnino sibi et liberalitate et docilitate quaesivit. Eutropius. See Howell's History 
of the World, p. 2, and Lardner's Credib. part ii. c. lxx. 

2 Zosim. lib. ii. 3 Aur. Vict. Aminian. lib. xvi. Euseb. lib. v. 

4 Hence Aurelius Victor, though with more point than truth, has thus described his 
character during three different periods of his reign : Proverbio vulgari Trachala decern 
annis prsestantissimus, duodecim seqv entibus Latro, decern novissimis Pupillus ob pro- 
fusiones immodicas nominatus. Epit. c. 41. 



28 



THE CREISTIAK CHUECH LS THE rOUETH CEjSTUEY. 



Massacre of 
the relatives 
of Constan- 
ts e. 



Division of 
the Empire. 



a.d. 337. balianus, his nephew, had received from the late monarch a share 
in the partition of the empire, About four months afterwards, 
the three brothers assumed the title, to which their claim had 
been so readily admitted. A scene of blood 1 then followed. A 
tumultuous soldiery destroyed, in indiscriminate massacre, Julius 
Constantius, the deceased emperor's brother, Dalmatius and Han- 
nibalianus, the Patrician Optatus, who had married the sister ef 
Constantine, five of his nephews, one of whom was the eldest son 
of Julius Constantius, the Prsefect Ablavius, and others whoy 
having been ministers in the late reign, excited either resentment 
or suspicion. 2 The numerous family of Constantine was thus re- 
duced to his three sons and two nephews, Grallus and Julian, the 
youngest children of Julius Constantius. Grallus, who was then 
twelve years old, owed his safety to a sickly state of health, from 
which it was not expected he would recover ; Julian, who was but 
six, to his extreme youth. 3 The murder of Dalmatius and Han- 
nibalianus was succeeded by a division of their dominions. For 
this purpose the three brothers, Constantine, Constans, and Con- 
stantius, met in Pannonia. Constantine, the eldest, who fixed his 
imperial seat at Constantinople, had Thrace and Constans, Greece 
and Macedonia. Each of them retained the territories which had 
been assigned by the late emperor during his lifetime. Constan- 
tine kept Gaul, Spain, and Britain ; Constantius Asia, Syria, and 
Egypt ; and Constans, Illyricum, Italy, and Africa. Constantine 
appears to have ceded, this same year, Thrace to Constantius, and 
Constans Africa to Constantine. When they assumed the purple, 
the eldest of the brothers was twenty-one, the second twenty, and 
the third only seventeen years of age. 

The throne of Persia was at this time occupied by Sapor, an 
able and enterprising prince, who had long desired to circumscribe 
the eastern possessions of Rome, but had hitherto been deterred 
from the prosecution of his ambitious schemes by the fame and 
power of Constantine. No sooner, however, was the object of his 
fears removed, than he invaded and ravaged the Roman dominions, 
and made himself master of several of the strongholds of Mesopo- 
tamia. He received support from the Armenians, who revolted, 
drove their king, who favoured the Romans, into exile, and de- 
stroyed or expelled the priests of the Christian religion, who, 
through the instrumentality of their late king, Tiridates, had been 
established in Armenia. Frequent irregular inroads spread con- 
tinual alarm and desolation. Nine battles were fought, in which 
the Persians were generally successful. A signal engagement at 



Invasion by 
the Persians 



1 Constantius is charged with the guilt of this massacre by Julian. (Ad S. P. Q. 
Athen. p. 270.) So also Athanasius, (Solit. p. 856,) and Zosimus, (p. 692.) But 
Eutropius (p. 558) and Socrates say he rather permitted than commanded it. 

2 Euseb. Vit. Const, lib. iv. c. 68. Zosim. lib. ii. Julian, Ep. ad Athen. 

3 Socrat. lib. iii. c. 1. Aminian. 



COKSTANTINE SECOND, SLAIN. 29 

length took place at Singara, a city of Mesopotamia, in which a.d. 340. 
Sapor was successful. Aware, however, that victories in the field 
are insufficient to enable any one to retain conquests, he sought a 
material guarantee for the diminished power of Borne in the East, 
by besieging Nisibis in the years a.d. 338, 346, 350. This he did 
with great perseverance and much skill ; but all his efforts were 
unavailing, and he was glad, after the loss of twenty thousand 
men, to abandon the siege and conclude a truce. 

About three years after the division of the empire, Constantine, £\^esthe 
the eldest brother, dissatisfied with his share, after having ineffec- ^""tans 
tually attempted to obtain from Constans the cession of the whole, is surprised 
or at least some part of Italy, placed himself at the head of a tumul- and Siam ' 
tuous host, marched from Gaul, and, entering into his brothers 
territories by the Julian Alps, first exercised his vengeance on the 
country round Aquileia. Constans, who was then in Dacia, im- 
mediately detached a chosen portion of his forces, by whose 
skilful artifices the imprudent Constantine, having been drawn 
into an ambuscade, was encircled and slain. His body, which had 
been thrown into the river Ansa, at a small distance from Aquileia, 
was afterwards discovered and removed to Constantinople, where 
it was interred near the tomb of his father. 1 In consequence of 
this event, Constans, who refused to transfer to Constantius any 
part of the dominions of the deceased prince, became sole master 
of the provinces of the West, and remained in possession of up- 
wards of two-thirds of the Roman empire. 

Ten years after the death of his brother, Constans himself Revolt of 
experienced a fate no less sudden and disastrous. Having by ana murder 
inactivity, depravity, favouritism, and ignorance, exposed himself J £°3 5 S o alls * 
to the contempt and hatred of the soldiery, Magnentius, a com- February. 
mander of barbarian birth, formed and executed a plot for seizing 
the reins of empire, and commissioned Graiso to slay Constans. 
Gaiso overtook him near Helena, a small village at the foot of the 
Pyrenees, and murdered him with many wounds. 

After the death of Constans, the title of Magnentius was soon 
recognized in G-aul, Italy, and the Western provinces. To insure 
assistance and support, he declared his brother Desiderius, and 
Deeentius, 2 (who is, by some writers, called his brother, by others 
his cousin,) Caesars. In Illyricum, the legions under the command 
of Vetranio prevailed upon him, after having manifested either Vetranio 
real or apparent reluctance, grounded on his gratitude and fidelity title of Em'- 
to the family of Constantine, to allow himself to be invested with peror * 

1 Zonar. Vict. Epit. Eutrop., &c. Constantine is described by his panegyrist as 
an accomplished and pious prince. (Monod. seu Orat. in Constant. Junior Mort. p. 
7, &c.) His unprovoked and ill-contrived invasion of his brother's dominions is not 
calculated to increase our idea either of his probity or of his abilities. 

2 Deeentius assumed also the names of Magnentius and Magnus, He is likewise 
distinguished by the unusual title of Fortissimus. . 



30 



THE CHRISTIAN CHUECH IN THE FOTTBTH CE^TTTBY. 



A. D. 340. 



Nepotianus 
takes the 
title of Em- 
peror and 
seizes Rome. 



His death. 



Constantius 
rejects the 
terms of 
peace pro- 
posed by 
Magnentius. 
a.d. 350. 



the imperial dignity. Constantina herself, the wife of the un- 
fortunate Hannibalianus, placed the diadem on his head. Yetranio, 
a native of Upper Meesia, descended from obscure parents, was now 
far advanced in years, and had served in the army from his infancy. 
His natural abilities were respected, but his deficiency in education 
was so great that it was after his elevation that he first learned to 
read. 1 His integrity and affability, however, joined to the success 
which had uniformly attended his arms, rendered him universally 
beloved by his forces. 2 A third aspirant arose, exasperated at the 
sight of a successful barbarian as master of the West, or dazzled 
by the seductive lustre which conceals the dangers of imperial, and 
more especially of usurped power. Xepotianus, the youthful son 
of Eutropia, sister to the great Constantine, having drawn together 
a company of gladiators and other desperate men, assumed the 
purple, and took possession of Rome, on which he wreaked his 
vengeance, and slaughtered among others the Prsefect Anicetus, 
who, having been appointed by Magnentius to command in the 
city, had made an unsuccessful sally against him. His hopes were 
destined to be soon blasted. Marcellinus was despatched against 
him by Magnentius. A bloody battle was fought ; but I^epotianus 
being betrayed by a senator named Heraclitus, his men were 
routed, and himself slain, after having reigned during the short 
period of twenty-eight days. 3 Marcellinus put to death such as 
had espoused his cause, and made a general massacre of all who 
were in any way related to the family of Constantine. Among 
those who fell victims in this scene of butchery, was Eutropia, the 
mother of ISTepotianus. 4 

Magnentius having, by the most cruel and oppressive means, 
raised such sums as might enable him to meet the expenses of 
civil war, assembled a considerable army. Aware, however, of the 
uncertainty of the field, he resolved to try the effect of negotiation. 
Constantius was then at Antioch, in which city, on receiving in- 
telligence of the death of his brother, he had asserted his claim to 
the empire of the West, and prepared to support it with a con- 
siderable army and a very powerful fleet. 5 Leaving Antioch about 
the beginning of autumn, and proceeding through Constantinople, 
he arrived at Heraclea, in Thrace, where he gave audience to the 
ambassadors of Magnentius and Yetranio, who had joined for their 
mutual support. The conditions proposed were, — that they would 
assist him in the prosecution of the war against the Persians and 
other barbarians, and also acknowledge his pre-eminence in point 
of rank as Emperor of the East, provided he conceded to them the 
uninterrupted enjoyment of their titles. They further proposed, 
with a view to cement their alliance, two marriages, — one between 



1 Zosim. lib. ii. 

3 Zosim. lib. ii. Eutrop. 588. Aur. Vict. 

4 Themist. Orat. ii. Julian, Orat. iii. 



2 Eutrop. p. 588. 
Ammian. 

5 Julian, Orat. i. 



CIVIL WAK. 31 

Constantius and the daughter of Magnentius, and the other be- a.d. 350. 
tween Magnentius and Constantina, the widow of Hannibalianus. 1 
Constantius deferred his answer till the next day, when, having 
doubtless considered the most effectual method of inspiring the 
people with feelings correspondent to his own, he declared to them 
that, on the preceding night, the shade of his father Constantine 
had appeared to him in a vision, and, presenting the corpse of the 
slaughtered Constans, had warned him to avenge his murder, and 
assured him that in so just a cause his efforts would be crowned 
with success. The terms of accommodation were then indignantly 
rejected. One of the deputies was sent to communicate his re- 
solution ; the remainder, without regard to the law of nations, 
were thrown into confinement. Constantius advanced with the 
utmost speed from Heraclea to Sardica. Anxious, however, to 
avoid being engaged with two enemies at once, he offered to con- 
tract a separate treaty with Yetranio, whose conduct he pretended 
not disposed to regard with harshness and severity. But by a 
skilful management of the soldiery, he succeeded in frightening 
the aged Yetranio into abdication, a.d. 350. He appointed a re- 
tirement for him in Bithynia, assigned him an annual income, 
and Yetranio gratefully spent his remaining years free from the 
troublous anxieties of those " having authority." 

Magnentius was a far more formidable enemy than Yetranio. 
He assembled a considerable army, with which he crossed the Alps 
from Noricum to Pannonia, and prepared for battle on the plains 
of Sciscia. Here Constantius was routed, and made proposals of 
peace. These Magnentius arrogantly rejected, and demanded the 
abdication of Constantius. To this extremity it was impossible to 
yield, until the ultimate issue of the arbitration of war decided 
unambiguously against him ; they, therefore, met again in battle Battle of 
at Mursa. After a severe, obstinate, and fluctuating contest, Con-. 2 va.d. 351. 
stantius remained the conqueror, though he was unable to follow 
up the victory. He, therefore, judiciously suspended hostilities 
during the winter ; but resumed the offensive in the following 
summer. The troops of Magnentius, being most signally defeated 
in the Cottian Alps, attempted to purchase their own safety by 
treacherously delivering their chief to the inflexible vengeance of 
the Emperor. He escaped at once from treachery and revenge by 
falling on his own sword. 

No sooner was the revolt of Magnentius thus quelled, than a Gaiius 
new danger threatened the empire. The Persians were preparing caesar. 
to invade the eastern provinces. To aid him in repelling this 
enemy, Constantius elevated his cousin Gallus to the rank of 
Cassar of the East. This was an unfortunate choice. Gallus was 
inexperienced, and the sudden, unlooked-for elevation upset the 

1 Zonar. lib. v. c. 14. Them. Orat. iii, Julian, Orat. ii. 



32 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN THE FOURTH CENTURY. 

a.d. 351. balance of his mind. He became suspicious, cruel, haughty, ex- 
travagant, and misgoverned the province committed to his charge 
with all the recklessness of insanity, — caused the members of a 
commission sent to inquire into his maladministration to be put 
to death, and otherwise incensed both the people and the Emperor. 

Julian jj e was recalled, tried, and executed, December, a.d. 354. After 

Cassar. this, Julian, the brother of Grallus, was created Caesar of the West, 

and Constantius undertook the conduct of the Persian war himself. 
Gaul became the prey of the barbarians, whom Constantius, in his 
eagerness to destroy a rival, had secretly invited to annoy Magnen- 
tius in the rear. This criminal act against the majesty of Home 
afterwards met its just punishment. Julian, in the face of almost 
insuperable difficulties, cleared the empire of invaders, and carried 
the contest across the Rhine ; and he who might have been a philo- 
sophic dreamer, was developed into a soldier — a hero. Visions of 
conquest, and the glories which result from conquest, for a time 
displaced the scholastic subtleties of his earlier days. The imperial 

Then elected purple came within his grasp. The soldiery compelled him, not 
unreluctantly, perhaps, to assume the title of Augustus. Constan- 
tius, whose jealousy can scarcely be said to have slumbered, so soon 
as he was apprized of this event, taking advantage of his success 
over the Persian monarch — whom he had forced to retreat — 
prepared to contest Julian's accession. Having reached Tarsus, 
a fever, most probably resulting from mental anxiety, seized him ; 
but he pushed forward to Mopsucrene, where, at length, all 
remedies proving ineffectual, he expired, 3d November, l.d. 361, 
in the forty-fifth year of his age, and the twenty -fourth of his reign. 
Before his death, yielding perhaps to the necessities which he could 
not control, he proclaimed Julian his successor in the Empire. 

The true position of the Church cannot be well understood with- 
out having in view the political events amid which its external form 
was fashioning. From the establishment of the Church to the 
accession of Julian, and the renewal of those persecutions, in 
which the boldest held his breath for a time, many events of 
prime importance, so far as regards the spiritual history of man, 
took place. To these it is right that we should now devote our 
attention. 

the l Ch i0n 'h° f ^ e Church had hitherto been m, though not of, the world, — it 
was an invisible communion, the bonds by which its members were 
joined one to another, were spiritual, and "spiritually discerned." 
Visible embodiment was the only apparent way in which it could 
brave the dangers to which it was exposed. The State had felt its 
weakness without the Church, and had accepted it as the only means 
of producing and perpetuating that " righteousness which exalt eth 
a nation," while the Church accepted the proffered hand of the 
State as the first fruit of the realization of the prophecy, u that the 
mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the 



THE CHUECH TN DA^GEE. 33 

mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills ; and all nations a. d. 338, 
shall flow unto it." 1 

It was a dangerous time. How much more difficult is it to bear ^^rch. 
prosperity meekly than adversity bravely ! As we admire the 
hardy zeal of the earlier believers, so do we lament the rise of those 
schisms which created so much dispeace among the churches of 
this time. It were ill our part to attempt to justify this be- 
fore men. God, who in His own divine method educes good from 
evil, has made here, as elsewhere, " the wrath of man to praise 
Him ;" for we have no greater guarantee for the purity with which 
our gospel has been transmitted from age to age, than that afforded 
by the careful jealousy of sects. Each sect acted as a check upon 
the other, and restrained each from setting up "a false balance." 
This fact, however much it redounds to the praise of " the good 
providence of God," by no means palliates the guilt of the schis- 
matic, or excuses the corrupt heart of man. It seems apparent 
that the Church was now to undergo a probation of another and 
a more trying kind than any to which it had yet been exposed. 
But " the righteous and the wise, and their works, are in the hand 
of God," and the chastisements of His love are mingled with bless- 
ings to those who rightly use them. The Arian heresy, which had 
disturbed the peace of the Church under Constantine, — notwith- 
standing the death of its propound er, and the boldness with which 
Athanasius opposed its progress, even when encouraged by imperial 
favour, — continued fashionable at court, and among the worldly- Arianism 
minded. Many intrigues were employed to insure its success in de- pop 
generate Christendom. While Constantine II. held rule, Athanasius 
was restored to his see at Alexandria, a.d. 338. Asclepas of Gaza, 
Marcellus of Ancyra, and many others, who had been deposed by 
Arian influence, were at the same time recalled. But his early 
murder left the power in the hands of his next brother, Constan- 
tius, a man weaker in understanding, more corrupted by the lust 
of power, and less anxious to employ the Church as the instrument 
of spiritual regeneration, than as an engine to increase and estab- 
lish his own dominance. "When the desire for the ascendency of 
party becomes more potent than the love of truth, the weapons 
which are wielded by the secular arm, are much more likely to be 
appealed to than "the whole armour of God." Hence, we should 
expect that a greater tendency to use "the powers that be" for 
the furtherance of their own ends, and a greater degree of submis- 
sion to the temporal ruler, so long as it suited its purposes, should 
characterize that party by which ascendency was most coveted. At 
this critical time, indeed, the Church had small need of foes, least 
of all did it require that these should be of its own household. The 
question of greatest interest to the temporal well-being of Christ's 

1 Isaiah ii. 2. 



34 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN THE FOURTH CENTURY. 

a.d. 340. Church was now to be adjusted, and instead of the calmness of 
reason, or the firm decisiveness of Christian holiness, passion had 
been evoked, intrigue took the helm from candour, and self-interest 
exerted its provoking persuasiveness. At this juncture, a.d. 340, 
Eusebius of Caesarea, an able but ambitious and somewhat unscru- 
pulous semi-Aldan prelate, died, and but a brief period elapsed till 
Alexander of Constantinople followed him. This latter person saw 
the unhappy future which "loomed" but a little way "in the dis- 
tance" for the Church ; for when asked on his death -bed to nomi- 
nate a successor, he said, " If you seek a man of exemplary life, 
and a capable instructor in righteousness, you have Paul ; if you 
wish a man of politic discernment, able to maintain interest with 
the great, and conserve the outward appearances of religious life, 
Macedonius deserves the preference." The appointment was a 
great stake, and the Arian party played deeply ; but the primitive 
faith was even yet predominant in the new Rome of the first 
Christian emperor, and Paul was chosen. Constantius, provoked 
An Arian at this decision, summoned an Arian council, indicated his pleasure 
called. to it, Paul was deposed, and the metropolitan see was conferred 

on Eusebius of Niconiedia. Against this deposition, Athanasius 
and a council of a hundred Egyptian bishops protested, whereupon 
a council was convened at Antioch, and at it, by the machinations 
of Eusebius and the influence of the Emperor, Athanasius was again 
ejected from Alexandria. Constantius, knowing the estimation in 
which the Alexandrian prelate was held throughout Egypt, ordered 
the prefect of that province to enforce the submission of the Church 
by arms. This was done. Athanasius retired to Rome ; and Gregory 
of Cappadocia, who had been ordained his successor, was introduced 
to his see by the civil governor of the province, and inaugurated 
his appointment by ordering a number of the adherents of Atha- 
nasius to be scourged and imprisoned. Persecution, unfortunately, 
had not ceased, though paganism had been pushed from the im- 
perial seat. The potency of the secular arm in things divine was 
here traitorously asserted in the Church. Violence had overcome 
charity. 

Eusebius of Constantinople died a.d. 342, and Paul was re- 
elected by one party, while Macedonius was chosen by another. 
The Emperor commanded Hermogenes to insist on the banishment 
of Paul ; and his friends, forgetting the first principles of them 
faith in the first burst of their disappointment, slew Hermogenes. 
Athanasius had remained eighteen months under the guardian- 
ship of Julius, bishop of Rome, when a council of the Western 
prelates, whom Julius summoned, justified Athanasius and his 
fellow- sufferers ; and the Roman bishop wrote to the heads of the 
Eastern Church, kindly dissuading them from the employment of 
such unhallowed means of furthering the supposed interests of the 
Church. Athanasius maintained his uncompromising integrity, 



SYNODS OF SARDICA, ABLES, AND MILAN. 35 

and would agree to no inexplicit recognition of the Nicene creed, a.d. 346, 
Constans, who had protected him, now demanded from Constantius 
the power of calling a synod, to secure that justice which appeared 
to be denied to the exiled prelate and his friends. A joint order 
was issued, and the synod was convened a.d. 346, at Sardica in Synod of 
Illyria, on the boundary line between the respective dominions of 
the two emperors. This synod was intended to heal the divisions 
in the Church ; but its effect, perhaps through the policy of Con- 
stantius, was wholly different — the breach was widened. The 
seventy-six oriental prelates retired to Philippopolis in Thrace, and 
excommunicated their brethren of the Occident ; and the ninety- 
four western bishops, who retained their seats at Sardica, acquitted . 
Athanasius, and excommunicated all his opponents. Athanasius 
thereafter abode at Aquileia, protected by Constans, till the death 
of Gregory, a.d. 349, when, intimidated by the threats of his 
brother, Constantius, recalled Athanasius and his friends, restored 
him to his see, and them to their charges. His return to Alex- 
andria was a triumph ; many of his enemies recanted, and many of 
his friends, in then" zealous joy, devoted themselves to the monastic 
life. A synod was convened at Alexandria, at which the decrees 
of that of Sardica were confirmed. 

But the untimely death of Constans, a.d. 351, removed the need 
of diplomatic reserve ; and although the civil troubles occasioned 
by the usurpations of Yetranio and Magnentius stayed for a time 
the vengeful arm of the Emperor, yet, so soon as the storm was 
over, and his sovereignty was safe, he returned with hot impatience 
to sate his hatred. Paul of Constantinople was in that same year 
sent, loaded with chains, first to Mesopotamia, and afterwards to 
the confines of Cappadocia, where, after enduring horrid cruelty, 
he was strangled. Macedonius, his rival, took possession of the 
see, aided by an armed force, and at the expense of much blood- 
shed. Many other cruelties were perpetrated, and many unjusti- 
fiable acts of indignity were put in force, against the adherents of 
the Nicene creed. But Athanasius was the great arch -rebel ; he 
had excited enmity between the imperial brothers, was a malig- 
nant resister of the favourite doctrine of the court, and, therefore, 
both the theological and personal opponent of the Emperor. He 
must, therefore, be brought to a sense of his duty, and punished 
for his offences. 

To effect this, Constantius sumnioned a Synod to meet at Aries, Synods of 
a.d. 353, and another at Milan, a.d. 355. The eyes of the whole Milan, 
empire were thus turned upon the Alexandrian prelate, and much 
of the sympathy of the people was excited in his behalf. 

The Emperor and the factions were in arms against him, yet 
neither did his spirit fail, nor his friends desert him. They in- 
sisted that the illegal decrees of the council of Tyre were nullified 
by the recantations of his enemies, his acquittal by the bishops of 



36 THE CHRISTIAN CBXRCH IX THE EOURTH CEOTUKT. 

a.d. 355. Egypt, and at the councils of Rome and Sardica, by the imperial 
edict of reinstallation, and by his undisturbed tenure of the see 
under that edict. Constantius was inflexible. " Obey, or be ban- 
ished," was the imperious language he employed. A few of the 
Nicene prelates remained firm. Among these, Liberius of Eome, 
Hosius of Cordova, Paulanus of Treves, Dionysius of Milan, Euse- 
bius of Yercellse, Lucifer of Cagliari, in Sardinia, and Hilary, deacon 
of Poitiers, deserve especial notice. The Arians appeared so 
triumphant, that the pagans joined them in their persecutions, 
under the idea that they had seceded from the faith of Christ. 
Under the pretext of carrying out the decrees of the holy Catholic 
Church, Constantius permitted the most horrid cruelties to be per- 
petrated in Alexandria. One Syrianus entered the church, at night, 
while the people were at their devotions, killed many, and ordered 
others to be beaten or otherwise insulted. The clergy and monks 
forced their intrepid bishop from his chair, contrived means for his 
escape, and insisted on his flight. He fled, the people protested 
unavailingly against such violence, but the cup of their sorrows had 
not yet been fully drained. 

George, of Cappadocia, 1 a man regardless alike of humanity or 
religion, was appointed to the episcopate ; and those disgraceful 
scenes of bloodshed which, under the persecutions, were common, 
were renewed and repeated under the sanction, and in the very 
presence, of a professedly Christian prelate, in ninety of the cities 

Revolt in of Egypt. The Alexandrians revolted, but the military subdued 
them, and though for a time they expelled the bishop, he was re- 
placed — more relentless and vindictive than before. Athanasius, 
who had betaken himself to the deserts, was received, and, despite 
the threat of the severest penalties, protected by the monks, em- 
ployed his time in composing his ' Apology to Constantius,' his 
' Apology for his Flight,' &c, — in writing circular letters to the 
bishops of Egypt and Lybia against the Arian heresy, and other 
controversial works. 2 The implacable hate with which Constan- 
tius and his Arian advisers pursued Athanasius, is the best evidence 
of his worth and their fear, of the real estimation in which he was 
held by the people, and the power he had wielded against them. 
His undaunted endurance of many evils, his strictly holy life, his 
modest yet dignified bearing in prosperity, his brave opposition of 
wrong-doing, even in the high places of power, procured him the 
honourable appellation of the "Father of Orthodoxy." 

Constantius, while he was thus undermining all Christian disci- 
pline, munificently supported the most expensive " forms of god- 
liness," strove by liberality to gild reputation, and sought to 
atone for his cruelties, and the corruptions he had forced upon 

1 For the evidence upon which the events at Alexandria, recorded above, rest, see 
E. Renaudot's Historia Patriarch arum Alexandrinorum, p. 83. 

2 Gibbon, c. xxi. Cave's Life of Athanasius. 



Alexandria. 



PEKSECUTION LN" THE CHTJBCH. 37 

the Church, by presents of vessels of gold and silver, tissues of a.d. 357. 
gold, curtains decked with precious stones, and liberal donatives. 
All Christendom groaned under the exhausting extortion to which 
it was subjected, that magnificence in the external rites of religion 
might hide the deficiency of true spirituality in the inner thoughts 
of the worshippers. The persecutions introduced by Macedonius 
into Constantinople, drew the sufferers closer to those who, like 
themselves, were subjected to distress for Christ's sake. Hence, 
the Nicene believers overtured the Novatians to join them, but 
unfortunately this union was not effected. The Novatians were 
expelled from Constantinople, and their churches demolished, by 
the orders of the Emperor. They were exposed to other indigni- 
ties and personal violence ; but their narrow-minded bigotry with- 
held them from uniting against the active secularizing heretics, 
whose day of prosperity bore so hardly on them and the adherents 
of the creed of the Council of Nice. 

Hosius of Cordova, oppressed with infirmity and the weight of 
a hundred years, subdued by the hardships of his exile at Sirmium, 
and weakened in mind by all these combined, was at length pre- 
vailed upon to sign the Arian creed, and was restored to his Ap°. stac F of 

i ~ Hosius and 

episcopate, a.d. 357. In the same year, Liberius of Rome, who iiberius. 
had been banished to Thrace, not only embraced Arianism, but 
adhibited his signature to the condemnation of Athanasius, and 
thus regained the bishopric he had forfeited. It was a woeful 
time, when even such men as these could be subdued or tempted 
to apostatize ; but this, as Gibbon remarks, 1 only " reflected a 
brighter lustre on the firmness of those bishops who still adhered 
with unshaken fidelity to the cause of Athanasius and religious 
truth." 

Two councils were held, one at Eimini, and another at Selucia, 
at which many persons were seduced from the Athanasian doc^ 
trines. Success intoxicated its leaders, — they became divided among 
themselves, and, embroiled in schemes of ambition, forgot the 
Christian in the priest, and the priest in the courtier. It was, 
doubtless, some gratification for the Pagans to perceive that the 
rival sects of Christ's Church so zealously hated each other. They 
saw they were preparing the public mind for a reaction ; and they 
beheld in Julian, the star of the restoration of the gods of Rome. 

We should do wrong were we to suppose, that amongst all these 
strivings and contendings of sects, true religion was altogether for- 
gotten. Doubtless, in those classes whose station removed them 
from temptation, many held on "the even tenor of their way," in 
"the paths of righteousness," and were filled with "the faith of 
the gospel." Nominal Christianity was, indeed, too much exalted ; 
and too little of the godly elements of living faith was conceived as 

1 Chap. xxi. 



38 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH EN" THE FOURTH CENTURY. 

a.d. 358. needful to the attainment of membership in the visible Church. The 
agitations of doctrine, and the heroism of life which this period 
exhibits, are most important : the former, as accustoming the 
thoughts of men to thought and investigation ; the latter, as de- 
monstrating the faithfulness of God in "perfecting His strength" 
in the weakness of His followers. While, without doubt, the good 
providence of God was above His Church, we are quite justified in 
believing: that the adversities of the succeeding reign were in a 
great measure invited, if not provoked, by the injudicious conduct 
of the hierarchs of the Church. Constantius certainly found more 
delight hi speculative, than in practical Christianity, at least we 
may fairly infer this from the fact that he, like his father, was not 
baptized till he lay on the couch of death. 
Constant 1 ° f ^ ie cnarac ^ er °f Constantius was marked by weakness, which 
unfitted him for the station in which he was destined to move. 
The slave of his eunuchs, who retained their ascendency over him 
from his earliest years, he suffered desert to be neglected, whilst 
appointments were bestowed on men, who purchased the favour of 
his Ministers, and who, in order to realize the profits which had 
tempted them to incur this expense, grievously oppressed the 
wretched people whom they were sent to govern and protect. 
Surrounded by heartless flatterers, he had not perhaps the oppor- 
tunity of being convinced of the inexpediency and injustice of the 
measures which they suggested or approved. His capacity was 
limited, his vanity inordinate. Jealous of his power, and suspicious 
of danger, he lent a ready ear to informers, who prompted him to 
acts of atrocious cruelty, to which he appears not to have been 
naturally inclined. His proneness to mercy, except in cases of 
treason, where fear smothered feeling, though generally believed 
to be sincere, has been represented as feigned, but it has been so 
represented by an enemy. He was not, however, without virtues, 
which might have produced for him an unsullied reputation in 
private life, where his faults, perhaps, would not have been so 
glaringly exhibited. Frugal in his diet and temperate in his habits, 
he was remarkable for a chastity which suspicion has not aspersed. 
His filial deference is also an amiable trait, which redeems some of 
his failings. On the whole, he swells the catalogue of princes, 
whose good qualities have been repressed, and whose defects elicited 
by the arts of evil counsellors. 



Julian's 
youth. 



Julian, commonly, though perhaps erroneously surnamed the 
apostate, son of Julius Constantius, brother of Constantine the 
Great, was born at Constantinople, a.d. 331. At the death of his 
imperial uncle, a.d. 337, he had only attained his sixth year ; and 
hence, in the general massacre of Constantine's relatives, Julian 
escaped on account of his youth, while Gallus, his elder brother, 



OALLUS AOT) JULIAN MADE dSABS. 39 

was spared, because, being in ill health, he v> r as not considered a.d. 358. 
dangerous. He was taken under the guardianship of Marcus, 
bishop of Arethusa, but was afterwards, at the command of Con- 
stantius, transferred to the care of Eusebius of Nicomedia — the 
friend and biographer of Constantine. He was educated in Greek 
Literature by Mardonius, who had been the instructor of Basilina, 
his mother. In all things, Julian displayed an exalted enthusiasm, 
and, for the time being, an unusual zeal. At an early age, he 
became a devoted student, and. as might be expected from the 
tutelage to which he had been subjected, became qualified, and was 
actually ordained, a reader in the church of Xicomedia. The 
jealousy of Const antius had deprived him of his share in the in- 
heritance of his father's goods, and he had but a scanty allowance 
granted to him by that Emperor. 

When he had reached his fourteenth year, he was taken to the 
Castle of Macellum, near Caesarea, where, along with his brother 
G-allus, he was treated like a prince, though retained under the 
strictest surveillance. When the death of Constans and Constan- 
tine II. had left Constantins sole sovereign of the Empire, the 
childless Emperor, feeling the need of help, created his nephew, 
G-allus, Ccesar, a.d. 351, and permitted Julian to resume his studies 
at Constantinople. Galius soon showed himself unfit to reign, and 
unworthy to live ; and when C oust antius found it necessary to 
have him put to death, Julian became an object of suspicion, and 
was for a time imprisoned. He was, however, at the entreaty of 
the Empress Eusebia, recalled to favour and invited to the court, 
where he was strictly watched by a crowd of spies for six months 
before the suspicious Emperor granted him an interview. The ^ u * n made 
same necessity which had made him clothe Galius with ephemeral 
grandeur, compelled Constantius, despite of his dislike, to confer 
the honour of Caesar on Julian. The army accepted him with joy'; 
but he laid aside the stole of the scholar for the accoutrements of 
war with reluctance, and received the purple with hesitancy and 
foreboding doubt. This unwillingness, on his part, was all the 
more intense, as only the summer before, Sylvanus, a general of 
high reputation, had been slain, on a false charge of treachery, 
fabricated by the intriguing ministry who surrounded Constantius. 
When he was nominated Ccesar, Julian espoused Helena, the Em- 
peror's sister. Despite of this new tie, jealousy was yet unexer- 
cised ; for that he might be held in complete dependence, Con- 
stantius made him governor of Gaul, a powerful province, now a 
prey to the barbarians, whose incursions were rendering the main- 
tenance of the Eoman sovereignty in that quarter doubtful. This 
had been brought about, in a great measure, by the injudicious 
ambition of Constantius himself, who had, during the civil wars 
between Magnentius, an usurper of the purple, and himself, em- 
ployed the Allemanni to make a diversion in his favour, by invad- 



40 THE CHRISTIAN CHUBCH IN THE EOTJKTH CENTURY. 

a.d. 358. ing Gaul, in return for which he agreed to bestow upon them all 
the territory they could reduce. The civil wars being ended, he 
did not feel it quite convenient to adhere to his part of the con- 
tract, and the absurdity of that policy which had led him to 
introduce the natural enemies of the Empire within its very borders, 
became menacingly apparent in the dreadful and destructive ravages 
by which they began to enrich themselves. With the Rhine, from 
its source to its estuaries, for their base of operations, they poured 
the horrors of war over a vast extent of country. And it was over 
a province in such circumstances, that an inexperienced youth, 
whose days had been spent in seclusion and study, unaccustomed 
to the din of arms, and unacquainted with the forms or processes 
of war, was appointed to initiate his career of peril, and redeem 
from the hands of a rude and warlike people, a country strewn with 
carnage and devastation — the result of the treachery of that very 
Emperor under whose seal he held his commission. To make the 
matter worse, he was sent forth in the depth of winter into this 
badly provisioned district, attended only by three hundred and 
sixty soldiers, whose lieutenants had received a discretionary power 
to obey or disobey as they saw fit. 

Julian as a It so happened that this literary, peaceable, and obscure prince, 
who, until he had attained his twenty-fifth year, had never seen 
an army, and then saw it as a general, had an ingenious and com- 
manding mind. By earnest study and keen thought, he made 
himself master of the principles on which success depended, and 
carefully regulated the combinations of his forces, and his calcula- 
tions on their effects by those principles. A few years sufficed, in 
spite of the ill-favour of Constantius, and the numerous obstacles 
surrounding him, to re-establish discipline in the army, arrange the 
finance of the province, and drive the barbarians from the Empire. 
Having succeeded so far, he assumed the offensive in his turn, 
raised a marine force, crossed the Rhine, carried the war into the 
settlements of the enemy, and established a name for fearlessness 
and ability round all the Western frontiers. In the midst of these 
victories, he did not neglect the duty of administration. He for- 
tified fitting places, established a strict civil polity, which was cal- 
culated to secure and encourage the prosperity of the province. 
His name was not slow to spread over the whole Empire. His 
victorious career, his virtuous character, the high administrative 
capacity developed without experience or teaching, the massacre of 
his family, his obscure and persecuted youth, all tended to excite 
interest and admiration. As his fame increased, the disquietude of 
Constantius grew — the weak are generally envious — and he set 
himself to destroy the rival whom he had established against him- 
self. Preferring to sacrifice the security and prosperity of an im- 
portant province rather than exhibit the magnanimity which 
acknowledges and rewards merit even in a rival, he commanded 



JULIAN CHOSEN AUGUSTUS. 41 

Julian to leave the army, and to send the better part of his troops a.d. 358. 
forward to Persia. In this act he but precipitated his own fate ; 
for the legions of Gaul and Germany had entered the Roman 
service under the condition that they should never be led beyond 
the Alps, while the people who inhabited those provinces became 
alarmed, lest by a renewal of the barbarian incursions, they should 
be again plunged into the desolating horrors of war. Discontent 
in the army, and disaffection among the people, increased rapidly. 
Julian, in this dilemma, resolved to demit his title and place, and 
to retire into the peacefulness of private life. He obeyed the 
mandate, gave orders for the immediate departure of the troops, 
and made every arrangement for their comfort on the way* On 
the evening of the day of their march, Julian, either through 
policy, or fidelity, or as he himself professed, under a feeling 
of disgust for the grandeurs of power, took farewell with the Julian chosen 
soldiery from a tribunal erected on a plain before the gateway Em P eror - 
of the city. He recalled the dangers and privations to which 
they had been exposed, the hazardous conquests in which they had 
been engaged, complimented them on the heroism they had dis- 
played, and exhorted them to go forward willingly and cheerfully 
under the standard of the Emperor, who possessed not only the 
means to reward merit, but the will to do it. The dispirited 
soldiery received this address in sad silence, their home-feelings 
were keenly active, their love and respect for Julian was intense, 
and at last, at the hour of midnight, with tumultuous clamour, they 
besieged his palace, and greeted him as their Augustus. Julian 
ordered the gates to be closed, and steadfastly refused to see the 
excited soldiery till the morning. This delay only exasperated 
their impatience and heated then ardour, so that at day-dawn, they 
forcibly entered the palace, hailing Julian Emperor. He attempted 
dissuasion, but in vain. The excited soldiery gave him the choice 
of a grave or a throne, and he, of course, accepted the latter 
alternative. He was raised upon the shields of the veterans with 
whom he had fought, amidst the loud acclamations of the troops, Considera- 
and a golden collar, enriched with precious stones, supplied the Julian's con- 
place of a diadem. A donative was then promised to the soldiers, duct 
and Julian shut himself up in his palace, with the appearance of 
the utmost grief. How far such grief was sincere, 1 can hardly be 
determined. A high sense of honour and justice characterized his 
conduct ; yet ambition held strong sway over his mind, and resent- 
ment may, perhaps, have had its intluence. Julian himself calls 

1 The Christian writers, Gregory Nazianzenus, (p. 58, 67), Philostorgius, (lib. vi.) 
Theodoret, (lib. ii. c. 28,) and Sozomen, (p. 18,) seem to have thought that be was 
privy to the designs of the soldiery. Zonaras says that he privately gained the 
officers, who, by his direction, excited the soldiers to threaten him as they did, that 
he might appear to have accepted the purple in order to save his life, (p. 18.) See 
Univ. Hist. vol. xvi. p. 219, note x. 



42 



THE CHEISTIAN CHT7KCH IX THE FOURTH CENTURY. 



His vision. 



a.d. 360. the Deities to witness, that he was unacquainted, till the close of 
the evening, with the intentions of the army. Yet it may be 
doubted whether his credulous reliance on certain dreams and pre- 
dictions, which assured him that he would one day become Emperor, 
had not some effect in leading him to expect and desire a result, 
under existing circumstances so natural ; and in inducing him, 
perhaps almost in such a manner as to escape his own conscious- 
ness, to court popularity with greater art and assiduity. On first 
receiving intelligence of the conspiracy, he retired to rest, and 
afterwards related to his friends, that he had seen in a vision the 
Genius of the Empire, holding, as represented by paintings, the 
horn of abundance, and complaining that he had long waited at 
his door, and had often been forced to retire. On hearing the 
clamours of the soldiers, he besought Jupiter to signify his will, 
and he was directed by an omen to yield to the entreaties of the 
army. In these instances may be discerned that bias towards 
superstition, which is so rarely untinctured by duplicity. 

The resolution with which Julian rejected the advice of his 
soldiers to put to death the partizans of Constantius who had op- 
posed his elevation, and the generosity with which he forgave an 
eunuch, who, it is said, was bribed to murder him, are traits cal- 
culated to confirm the high opinion entertained of his character. 
~No blood was shed : Florentius fled from Graul ; Lupicinus, on re- 
turning from Britain, was arrested, but experienced humane treat- 
ment. 

After having assembled his troops, and exhorted them to protect 
him whom they themselves had exalted to the imperial dignity, 
he wrote, in his name and that of the army, a conciliatory epistle 
to the Emperor, which he sent by two of his chief officers, Pen- 
tadius and Eutherius. Assuming only the name of Ccesar, he de- 
tailed the circumstances of his promotion, and solicited that he 
might be permitted to enjoy the title which he had been forced to 
accept ; he allowed the supremacy of Constantius, to whom he 
promised to send yearly Spanish horses and some foreign troops, 
and to leave the nomination of the Praetorian Prsefect. But he 
reserved to himself the appointment of the other officers ; and, at 
the same time, represented that the state of Gaul was such, that 
so far from being able to spare any of the inhabitants of her wasted 
regions, she needed the assistance of the other Provinces. 1 

The ambassadors of Julian met the Emperor at Csesarea, in 
Cappadocia. The letters, with which they were charged, trans- 
ported him with inordinate rage, and he dismissed them, trembling, 
from his presence, without interrogating or listening to them. In 
the height of his fury he hesitated whether he should prosecute 

1 Ammianus adds, that besides this public letter, Julian added a private one, filled 
with cutting reproaches, which he had not seen, and would have thought it unbecom- 
ing to insert in his History, (lib. xx. 167.) 



His letter to 
Constantius. 



Negotiation 
between 
Julian and 
Constantius. 



DEA.TH OE CO]S T STA^TITJS. 43 

his expedition against the Persians, or march without delay against a.d. 361. 
his rival. On calmer thoughts, he despatched Leonas, his qusestor, 
into Graul, with a threatening letter, in which, after annulling 
Julian's civil and military appointments, and nominating new 
officers, he required him to lay down the title which had been 
conferred by rebels, and, as he valued his own safety and that of 
his friends, to rest satisfied with the rank of Ccesar, which he was 
permitted to retain. Julian gave audience to Leonas, sitting on 
his tribunal, surrounded by the soldiers and people, purposely 
assembled, and the quaestor read with a loud voice the letter of 
Constantius. Julian then declared that he was willing to resign 
his new dignity, if he obtained the consent of the soldiery, by 
whom it had been bestowed. The words were scarcely uttered, 
when reiterated acclamations confirmed to him the title of Augus- 
tus. When that part of the letter was read, in which Julian was 
accused of ingratitude towards the Emperor, who observed, that he 
found him an orphan, and with all the tenderness of a father had 
taken care of his infancy and education, "An orphan!" cried the 
indignant Julian, " does it become the assassin of my father and 
of all my family, to reproach me that I was left an orphan ? Does 
he wish to re-open wounds which are scarcely closed?" The 
assembly being dismissed, Leonas, who had been treated with the 
attention due to his rank and merit, was sent back with a letter, 
in which Julian expressed without disguise the feelings which he 
had long smothered. 

ConstantiusVas engaged against Sapor, and was consequently ill 
able by force to disquiet Julian. The latter, to add new lustre to 
his dignity, again attacked the trans-Rhenic barbarians, destroyed 
great numbers, and obliged the rest to conclude a peace on condi- 
tions which he prescribed. 

While Julian was thus engaged, Constantius had driven the Civil war - 
Persian monarch to retreat ; and as Julian fully appreciated the 
feelings which were entertained regarding him by the elder Em- 
peror, he found it advisable to hasten forward in hostile fashion as 
speedily as possible, and thus either insure peace or success by 
the arbitration of arms. He made himself master of Illyricum, and 
hurried forward toward Sirmium, sending before him everywhere 
despatches, explaining and justifying his revolt against his un- 
friendly uncle, who was, on his side, advancing with almost equal 
rapidity. Mental anxiety had probably wrought its usual effects 
on an exhausted frame, for, when Constantius reached Tarsus, he 
was prostrated by fever, and in a few days after, at Mopsucrene, 
after bequeathing the successorship to Julian, he died. 

Upon intelligence of the death of his rival, Julian hastened to Julian's 
Constantinople, the place of his birth, into which he entered in constaati- 
triumph amid general rejoicings. The crowds which gathered n °P ie i D ec.n. 
round him with all the eagerness of curiosity were surprised at the 



44 THE CHRISTIAN CHTTECH IIS" THE FOURTH CE^TTJEY. 

a.d. 362. small stature and youthful appearance of the conqueror of Barba- 
rian kings and nations, whose fame was diffused through the vast 
extent of territory which had witnessed his extraordinary success. 
The attempt of the intriguer Eusebius and his adherents to oppose 
Universally Hs career and maintain their own influence by electing another 
ledgedEm- Emperor, were rejected by the army, who immediately acquainted 
peror. Julian with then- readiness to acknowledge his authority, which 

was thus established without bloodshed. The remains of the de- 
ceased Emperor were brought to Constantinople and solemnly in- 
terred in the Church of the Holy Apostles. Julian accompanied the 
funeral procession on foot, without a diadem, in a mourning habit. 
The tears which he shed seemed to evince that reflections on benefits 
conferred, predominating over the remembrance of past wrongs, 
had drawn forth the effusions of a feeling heart ; yet, it cannot be 
denied, that policy, rather than sincerity, may have dictated this 
apparent burst of grief. The legionaries who occupied Aquileia,on 
learning the death of Constantius, submitted to the new Emperor, 
and obtained his pardon. Thus was Julian left, in his thirty-second 
year, sole master of the Eoman Empire. 

Although his power was now established on a secure basis, he 
continued unchanged in the habits of his life. He carried to the 
throne a frugality worthy of the olden days of Rome's renown, a 
simplicity more characteristic of a philosopher than a sovereign, 
and an ardour to see all things adjusted rightly, which might have 
commanded praise, if it had not been so rigorously and inflexibly 
enforced. He set himself to regulate the administration of justice, 
to retrench the expenditure of the palace, ameliorate the laws, con- 
solidate the army, and restore its discipline. He soon found him- 
self able to assume the offensive in the Persian war, which he hoped 
would form a grandly effective consummation to the long series of 
his triumphs. In this, however, as the sequel will show, he did 
not succeed. 

In the midst of all the cares of State, Julian never lost sight of 
an enterprise on which he had set his heart — the mission, the work 
to which he believed Fate had especially ordained him — viz., the 
restoration of the Old Worship. 

During the early part of the reign of his half-brother Gallus, he 
is said to have renounced Christianity. This statement coincides 
with his own letter to the Alexandrians, in which he assures them 
that he was a Christian till his twentieth year. Julian was of an 
ardent, poetic temperament, — he had been trained to an enthusiastic 
love of the literature of Greece . The" gods ' ' of Homer had mingled 
in his boyish day-dreams, and the solitary student imparted to them 
a sublime grace and celestial radiance, derived from his own fervid 
fancy and cultured taste. When he, subsequently, pursued his 
studies at Constantinople, and listened to the esoteric allegorical 
interpretations by which the Neoplatonists showed that philosophy 



REACTION AGAINST CHRISTIANITY. 45 

drew into unity all systems of worship, blended them together, and a.d. 362. 
harmonized them all, he was placed one remove farther from a true 
appreciation of Christianity. In Asia Minor, too, the anti- Christian 
Neoplatonists chiefly flourished, so that, when he visited Nicomedia, J*JJ2J^ 
he was brought fully within the circle of their influences. One of 
these, Maximus, "an adroit juggler," feeling that if philosophy 
would successfully defend itself from Christianity, it must ally it- 
self to the Pagan faiths, and work its way into political life, under- 
took a mission to Nicomedia, where, by many artifices and flatteries, 
he wound himself into the affections of Julian, played upon his 
susceptible mind, and having prevailed upon the prince to visit 
Ephesus with him, at last succeeded in gaining him over to the 
principles of his school, and had him initiated into those mysteries, 
to the adoption of which he was not so much led by reason, as 
impelled by feeling. * 

After the rnurder of G-allus, and his own recall to court, he was 
permitted to visit Athens twice. There he saw the visible embodi- 
ments of the gods in whom the wisest nation in the world believed, 
— the symbols of Divinity stood around him in grace and majesty; 
and here, amidst the monuments of Greece's ancient glory, in the 
company of learned men, justly proud of their olden greatness, and 
full of regret that their glory had departed, and their kingdom 
had been given to others, the change in the thoughts and belief of 
Julian was completed and confirmed. 

There were several circumstances in the fife of Julian, in the fate Reaction 
of philosophy, and in the history of the Church, which favoured a Christianity. 
reaction. The creed of Christianity was that of Constantius, the 
murderer of Julian's relatives, and the tyrannous oppressor of his 
own youth. The cruel crime and the criminal cruelty were alike 
unchecked, if not approved of, by the clergy. He was educated in 
Asia Minor, where the Arian controversy was waged with more 
zeal than discretion, and more hate than knowledge. There ap- 
peared, too, in these squabbles, a large amount of self-seeking ambi- 
tion, which, to a mind already prejudiced against the faith of Christ, 
seemed a strong argument against either the sincerity of its pro- 
fessed followers, or the efficacy of its doctrines upon the life^ char- 
acter, and conduct. Unfortunately, it cannot be denied, that the 
Church, which had itself, by the bravery of its resistance, proven 
the impolicy of persecution, was no sooner placed on the right hand 
of the throne of Constantine, than it began to denounce anathema, 
not only against the adherents of the old worship, but against some The Church. 
of their own members, distinguished alike for learning, sanctity, 
and zeal. Neander remarks, that the arrogance and cupidity of 
the hierarchy, made them forget " the duties which they owed to 
the supreme magistrate;" and Warburton does not hesitate to 
affirm, that "their turbulent and insolent manners deserved all the 
severity of his justice." They were too intent on that disputa- 



46 THE CHEISTIAN CHTJBCH IjS" TELE FOURTH CEXTUBY. 

a.d. 362. tious strife, which attaches more importance to merely verbal dis- 
tinctions than "the weightier matters of the law," and they ap- 
peared to forget the amenities of common humanity, rather than 
to exemplify that " charity" which " suffereth much, and is kind." 
Intolerance was alien alike to the philosophy of Athens and the 
religion of Eome, and apparently as well as really repugnant to 
the precepts of that Christ whom they professed to worship. 

opiiers! n ° Sj Then the philosophers, what could then sentiments be, who had 
for so long a time been the trusted expounders of the Pagan dogmas, 
but were now restricted to teaching the rhetorical arts, obliged to 
retire for practice under the shadows of religious mystery, deprived 
of their fortune and privileges, their consideration and importance, 
and threatened each instant with ruin P In the bitterness of their 
defeat, hatred must have mingled with their convictions, and they 
must often have sighed, not only for liberty, but dominion and 
revenge. 

It was amid such circumstances that Julian's life-lot was cast, — 
it was under mingled influences such as these, that all his 

" Gorgeous dreams 
And beauteous fancies, hopes, and aspirations, 
Were born." 

A great Fate seemed to he before him, and he felt flattered. That 
which he accepted and recognized as his destiny, was an impos- 
sibility. The wheels of human progress are irreversible ; they will 
not roll back how great soever is the monarch who commands them. 
When a belief has once lost its vitality, its moral power ceases, the 
pageant may continue and the rite may be performed, but its effi- 
cacy is clean gone, so far as it is sought to employ it as a motive, 
as an agency affecting the life. Formalism is death. And there 
comes a time when a new living faith shall dash it to the earth, 
and strew its ashes to the four winds of heaven. An effete philo- 
sophy had leagued itself to an equally effete paganism to resist the 
progress of the New Faith ; but the attempt was unsuccessful. 
Christianity Christianity claimed an origin from G-od, and rejected, because 
philosophy, it superseded, every other belief. This is the essential feature of 
a true religion ; but the heathen world did not then comprehend, 
nor was it in a state to comprehend, that there was only one Re- 
ligion. Christians were looked upon as the contemners of the Cods 
and Faiths of all nations ; and were persecuted, in this point of view, 
not so much because they worshipped their own God, as because 
they insulted the Divinities hi which others believed. It would 
scarcely be fair to adjudicate on this topic from its appearance at 
first sight, as if it were a struggle between an acknowledgedly Divine 
Religion, revealed by the one living and true Cod, enforcing and 
producing purity of morals and perfection of life, and a vulgar 
polytheism which taught an absurd theogony, and permitted in- 
famous immorality. To Julian it appeared far otherwise. He, 



JULIAN AS PONTIFEX MAXIM1 T S. 47 

like the Christians, recognized the unity and omnipresence of the a.d. 362. 
Deity ; and not only advocated, but practised the noble morality 
of Plato. By a profound eclecticism, and a rationalizing interpre- 
tation, the Neoplatonists had succeeded, as they imagined, in gain- 
ing a higher platform of thought than Christianity — a system of 
faith which, when adopted, fused, harmonized, and reunited all re- 
ligions, — all the essentials of ritual, belief, and action. The triumph 
of Christianity seemed to them fraught not only with personal 
humiliation, but with the destruction of everything rightly in- 
cluded in the terms culture, civilization, and philosophy. And 
Julian shared this belief. Besides, on his elevation to the sole 
sovereignty of the empire, he had another powerful reason for 
disliking and opposing Christianity. Not only were the hierarchy 
greedy of power, rank, and wealth, but the people believed that 
they sought these things rather as material guarantees for the 
safety of the Church than for their personal aggrandizement. 
Then, their peculiar belief which led their thoughts beyond the 
inheritances and pleasures of this life, made them impervious either 
to bribery or fear. They were knit together, too, by the enthu- 
siasm of prosely tism, and the recollection of the sore persecutions 
by which they had purchased their present success. Their organ- 
ization had attained a perfection to which no political enginery in 
the empire had attained, so that not less from their immense num- 
bers than their incomparable institutions, they were to be feared. 

Julian perfectly comprehended how colossal was the power he Julian's 
was desirous of overthrowing, and he did not rush blindly or rashly edicts - 
into the struggle. He issued an edict which, considered by itself, 
displayed the prudent humanity and inflexible impartiality of a 
good prince, combined with the moderation and wisdom of a philo- 
sopher. In it he proclaimed a free and equal toleration to all creeds,, 
so far as consisted with the security of the civil power, and ac- 
cepted — as was the custom of his predecessors, on his accession to 
the throne — the sacred office and title of Pontifex Maximus, as a 
trust solemnly committed to him by the gods, and to be discharged 
with fidelity and diligence. He commanded the restoration and 
repair of the various temples which in the prior reigns had been 
confiscated, and devoted to the service of Christ, ordered them all 
to be reopened and dedicated anew to the worship of the several 
gods of the Empire. With a politic appearance of impartiality, he 
recalled the exiled heretics to then former stations, determined to 
make internal discord his auxiliary in the accomplishment of his 
inimical designs. While, however, he laboured to destroy Christ- 
ianity, he endeavoured to elevate and purify paganism. For this 
purpose he instituted a college of priests, prescribed pompous cere- 
monials, founded hospitals, and established schools. In fact, he 
strove to infuse as large a portion as possible of the institutions and 
spirit of Christianity into the Pagan culius and discipline. 



48 THE CHKISTIAK" CmiECH IN THE E0T7ETH CE!N T TTTET. 

a.h. 362. The attempt was vain. Nay ! in that epoch of the world it was 
Acts and culpable. Paganism was thoroughly soulless, even infamous, — 
writings. philosophy was in disrepute, public morality paralyzed, the re- 
straints of virtue unknown, and the traditions and customs he 
sought to revive had become inefficacious and futile. Exasperated 
by failure, and misled by evil counsel, Julian forgot his own pre- 
cepts of toleration, and not only lost the honour of being the pro- 
tector, though not the disciple, of the New Faith, but rendered 
himself justly liable to the opprobrium of being its enemy and 
persecutor. He prohibited Christians from holding offices civil or 
military, confiscated the revenues of the churches, commanded 
those who had destroyed the temples to rebuild them, forbade 
the teaching or reading of the ancient Classics in Christian schools, 
interdicted the preaching of the gospel, disallowed proselytism, and 
denounced baptism as a crime, because it created division between 
the citizens of the Empire, and detracted from the homage due to 
the occupant of the imperial throne. All these things increased 
the bitterness of the struggle. The Emperor sarcastically defended 
his confiscations, by saying, he was only helping them to fulfil that 
delightful law of Christianity , — " Lay not up for yourselves treasures 
on earth, where moth and rust may corrupt, and thieves break 
through and steal." To justify his dissent, he published an ela- 
borate and able treatise asrainst Christianitv, and with all the skill 
of an accomplished polemic, with wit and learning, sophistry and 
reasoning combined, strove to defend himself and assail the doc- 
trines and practices of the Church ; while, as a retaliation of the 
burning of the writings of Porphyry in the time of Constantine, 
he ordained that all the Holy Books which could be found, should 
be treated in a similar manner. At last yielding, or feigning to 
yield, to the entreaties of his counsellors, and perhaps impelled by 
the arrogant provocation of those Christians who, with the instinct 
of a party confident of, nay, predestined, to success, wished to be 
either all-powerful or persecuted, he lighted again the fires of per- 
secution in the Roman Empire. 

Mark, bishop of Arethusa, the protector of Julian's youth, had 
been exceedingly zealous in proselytizing ; and now that the Pagan 
magistrates were furnished with power, by the edict of Julian, to 
restore the temples and hold the Christian hierarchs as their debtors, 
they seized and scourged him, suspended his naked body, smeared 
with honey, to a tree, and left him a martyr to the stings of in- 
sects, and the burning rays of a Syrian sun. Julian, as a mark of 
gratitude, spared his life. He extended no similar mercy to Atha- 
nasius, who had resisted the great Constantine, escaped several 
trials, endured exile four times, and yet, amidst his degradation, had 
never lost the esteem of his friends, nor the respect of his enemies. 
George of Cappadocia, who had held the archiepiscopal see of 
Alexandria during the interregnum of Athanasius, had been assas- 



JULIAN'S SUPEESTITIOK. 49 

sinated by the Pagan populace, a.d. 361 ; and Athanasius, amid a.d. 362. 
the rejoicings of the Christians of the Egyptian capital, had resumed 
his seat. Julian opposed the resumption, or, as he styled it, the 
usurpation of the office, and renewed the sentence of exile. Atha- 
nasius resisted, the greater part of the people favoured the 
primate ; and the timid Ecdicius, prefect of Egypt, delayed press- 
ing, or rather enforcing obedience, to the decree. Julian wrote to 
him most angrily, vituperating the archbishop, and expressing a 
wish that the whole venom of the Galileans, as he contemptuously 
called the Christians, were concentrated in the single person of that 
one brave, good man, as he would not, most probably, have 
scrupled much at any means which would have assured him so 
easy a triumph as getting him despatched; but the venerable 
primate lived long after the fury of his persecutor was stayed by 
the hand of death. 

It is due, however, to Julian, to state here, that though his re- 
wards may often have induced wavering or politic professors of 
Christ's religion to turn with facile minds to the Pagan worship, 
his terrors were seldom unbared against private, unostentatious 
believers, but against the members of the hierarchy, whom he feared 
for their influence, hated for their creed, and detested for their 
rivalry with himself. 

The Persians, who had so much annoyed his predecessors and Julian's 
himself, Julian was determined to chastise and tame. For this, bUpe 
therefore, he prepared ; and no warnings could deter, no cautions 
could restrain, him from engaging in a warfare so tempting in its 
greatness. He laid his plans with much care, and on a scale of 
unprecedented magnificence ; but his superstition interfered with 
the prompt execution of his schemes. On his route he visited Con- 
stantinople, Nicomedia, and Pessinus in Phrygia, near which stood 
the temple of Cybele. Here he composed and delivered his dis- 
course, still extant, i On the Mother of the Gods.' He subsequently 
passed on towards Antioch, where he had promised himself much 
gratification ; for that place, in which the disciples had been first 
called Christians, was now rent and torn with dissensions regarding 
doctrine, and had wofully degenerated in morals. But though 
divided amongst themselves, they were united against the enemy 
of their faith, and his hopes were not only disappointed, but his 
person was subjected to ridicule, and his mission to raillery. To 
revenge himself for this, he wrote the - Misopogon,' a violent satire 
against the Christians, and appointed over them an unjust, unscru- 
pulous, and avaricious governor. 

A short distance from Antioch stood the temple of Daphne, an 
oracle of Apollo ; and when the festival of the " Light-producer" 
arrived, Julian attended, found the temple unprovided with victim 
or sacrifice, and was fearfully enraged. He ransacked earth and 
sea for fit offerings to the god, and with much profusion and 

E 



50 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN THE FOURTH CENTURY. 

a.d. 363. excessive revelry performed the rites, consulted the oracle, and 
began to raise around the temple a magnificent perislyte. On 
the evening of October 20th, the building, with its splendid 

Apollo's statue, took fire, and was destroyed. Although it is most pro- 
,mp e urn , j^^ ^^ ^ g resu }ted from the carelessness of the curators of 
the shrine, Julian suspected, or rather professed to believe, that 
it was a trick of the Christians ; and torture was unsuccessfully 
employed to induce the revelation of the means and persons. 
Hereupon Julian commanded the great Church of Antioch to be 
closed, and confiscated its treasures, commissioning Count Julian, 
his uncle, also an apostate, and Sallust the prefect, to execute his 
orders. Count Julian overstepped the limits of his commission, 
shut all the churches, executed Theodoret, and performed many 
acts of profanation, for which the emperor reprimanded him. 

While residing at Antioch, a new passion seized the soul of 
Julian ; viz., to rebuild the famous temple of Jerusalem, conse- 
crate it to Paganism, and thus, at once, conciliate the Jews by re- 
storing their ancient glory, and defeat Christianity by displacing, 
in the very "city of Grod," the worship which had hitherto been 
offered to him there. This work was interrupted by huge globes 
of fire bursting out of the earth, and hence the impious attempt, 
either naturally or miraculously, was most signally defeated. 

His plans for the invasion of Persia being, in the meantime, 
completed, Julian left Antioch, crossed the Euphrates, and stood 
before the enemy in Mesopotamia, before they had heard of his 
projected departure, and looked forward most sanguinely to an easy 
conquest. 

The Persian In this expedition, he had a noble army of sixty-five thousand 
men, all enthusiastic, and, the men of Gaul especially, confident in 
the skill and valour of their leader. He captured several fortified 
towns of Mesopotamia, crossed the Tigris, and took Ctesiphon ; 
but here success failed him, conquest and a fingering defeat began. 
The Romans met in Persia an enemy more dreadful than its war- 
like hosts could ever have been — want. 

"Look at yon track 
Lined out along the desert by their ruin, 
What see you there ? Dead horses, dying men ; 
Women, that to the shattered carriages 
Cling shrieking ; and afar the coming spoiler, 
There do they rest the while — poor worn anatomies, 
Fit for death only." 

Yet, when battle presented itself, they were brave, fought nobly, 
and died like heroes. Julian bore his share of the fatigues and 
distresses of the campaign, as if he were unsubduable by toil, dan- 
ger, or want. By continual devices and strategies, the Persians 
managed to set upon the Romans while in an unfavourable position, 
and in these skirmishes often did great damage. As the emperor 
marched unarmed at the head of his troops, he heard that they 



war 



JULIANS DYItfG ADDRESS. 51 

had been attacked in flank. On the spur of the moment, he a.d. 363, 
snatched his sword and shield, and, unarmed as he was, rushed into 
the thickest of the fight, waving his hand, and by animating words 
urged his soldiery on. A scene of merciless havoc ensued ; and 
Julian, reckless of danger in the heat of such a contest, mingled 
with ardour in the formidable fight. A javelin shot by an unknown 
hand grazed his arm, and then pierced his side. In an attempt to 
tear out the weapon from this wound he mangled his fingers fear- 
fully, — at last, exhausted by loss of blood, he fell from his horse, 
and was carried by his followers to his tent. At this sight the 
fury of the soldiery was redoubled, they no longer fought for vic- 
tory but vengeance. With frantic ferocity and maddened despair 
they concentrated all their hate and courage in the effort, which 
they did not relax till the darkness of night ended the conflict, 
and they lay down to rest, wearied with their exertions, but with 
their rage unsated. The battle terminated doubtfully ; for neither 
was able to pursue, or retain the glory of victorious arms. 

Credulous to the last, Julian did not consider his wound as 
mortal, because, according to his account, it was foretold by an 
oracle that he would close his days in Phrygia, which he under- 
stood to mean the province of Asia Minor, which bears that name. 
But on learning that the spot on which he lay was so called, he 
became sensible that all hopes of life must be resigned. 

His friends then assembled in his tent round the dying chieftain, Julian's ay- 
with looks in which the deepest dejection was impressed. Julian, 1Dga res 
stretched on a lion's skin, his customary couch, alone betrayed no 
symptom of weakness. " The time is arrived, my beloved friends," 
he said, " when I am summoned, though at an early season, to de- 
part from life. The loan, which nature redemands, I return with 
all the cheerfulness of a faithful debtor, and not, as some might 
imagine, with reluctant sorrow. Taught by philosophy the sur- 
passing excellence of the soul over the body, I find more reason to 
rejoice than to repine at the emancipation of the nobler from the 
baser substance. I likewise reflect that the gods have often sent 
death as the highest recompense of piety. I reckon it is a blessing 
which has prevented me from fainting under the pressure of diffi- 
culties, and from committing any action unworthy of myself. I 
have observed of all pains, that as they triumph over the weak 
and impatient, so they yield to those who resist them with per- 
severance and courage. I die without remorse. I am not stung 
with the recollection of having fallen into any heinous crime, either 
in the obscurity of early life or since the assumption of the purple. 
I have regarded the imperial authority as an emanation from the 
gods, which I trust I have preserved pure and unsullied, by govern- 
ing my people with moderation, and avoiding to embark in war 
without mature deliberation. If my efforts have not always been 
successful, it is because success is at the disposal of a higher power. 



52 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN THE FOURTH CENTURY. 

a.d. 363. Convinced that the interest and happiness of his subjects ought to 
form the sole object of a good prince, I have always, as you know, 
leaned to tranquil and pacific views, 1 and I have banished from my 
conduct that licentiousness which is destructive alike of the moral 
principles and of the prosperity of states. But whenever the Re- 
public, whom I venerate as a mother, has called me to open dan- 
gers, I have encountered them with the firmness of one accustomed 
to trample under foot the varied accidents of fortune. I will not 
conceal from you that it had been predicted to me that I should 
fall by a violent death. I offer thanks to the Everlasting Deity 
that I do not terminate my days through secret treason, or by the 
protracted torture of disease, or after the manner of condemned 
criminals, 2 but that I have earned a great and glorious end in the 
mid-career of brilliant achievements. In the opinion of all just 
judges, it is equally pusillanimous to long for death when it behoves 
us to live, or to regret life when it is time to die. My failing 
strength prevents me from speaking longer. I purposely abstain 
from naming my successor. My choice might be erroneous, and 
if rejected, it might perhaps expose to peril the person to whom it 
pointed. But as a faithful son of the Republic, I hope she may 
obtain after my death a virtuous ruler." 3 

Having thus spoken in the most composed manner, he ordered 
that his body should be removed to Tarsus in Cilicia, and distributed 
his private property among his most intimate friends. On learn- 
ing the death of one of these, Anatolius, whom he had desired to 
see, he gave way to his affliction. Yet the same man had forbidden 
lamentations for himself, remarking to the melancholy circle by 
which he was surrounded, that it was but weak and abject to 
grieve over a prince who was about to be united to the heavens. 4 
While they strove to stifle their emotions, he entered into a subtle 
dispute with Maximus 5 and Priscus, the philosophers, on the excel- 
lence of the soul. But, as his wound reopened and the inflammation 
increased, his breathing became embarrassed. He called for a 
draught of cold water, and had no sooner drunk it, than, about 

June 26. ' the middle of the night, he expired without pain. 6 

1 The insincerity of this assertion is obvious. Lituos somniabat et proelia. (Am- 
mian. lib. xxii.) 

2 Vel damnatorum fine. Florent. MS. The common reading " delicatorum " is 
not inconsistent with the character of Julian. 

3 Ammianus. lib. xxv. c. 3. 

4 Humile esse ccelo sideribusque concilatum lugeri Principem dicens. (Ammian.) 

5 Tliis philosopher, who had first inspired Julian with aversion for Christianity, had 
been invited to court by him, and received with marks of esteem, which Libanius has 
praised highly, (Orat. xii.) but which Ammianus thought below the Imperial dignity. 
(Ammian. lib. xxii.) He was so haughty as to be less easy of access than the Emperor 
himself. (Eunap. c. v.) Julian's "whole court," says Dr. Bentley, "in a manner 
consisted of haruspices, sacrificuli, and philosophers." Remarks on a late Discourse 
on Free-thinking. 

c The above account rests on the testimony of the honest and well-informed Am- 
mianus, with which the tales which are added by Christian writers seem inconsistent. 



jtjlian's charactee. 53 

He was then in the thirty-second year of his age, having reigned a.d. 363. 
seven years and a-half from his elevation to the dignity of Ccesar, 
three years since his assumption of the title of Augustus, and one 
year, eight months, and twenty-one days since he had enjoyed the 
undisturbed possession of supreme power. 

Thus perished, in the vigour of his age, after a brief but eventful Remarks, 
reign, one of the only princes who appeared capable, by the rare 
endowments which the vicissitudes of his checkered life developed, 
to call again into existence the ancient discipline of Rome, and to 
maintain the character of the Empire on the precarious elevation 
which it had reached. It has been justly remarked that his last 
moments were a copy of the death of Socrates, but without the 
ease and natural simplicity of the original. There is, indeed, in 
the whole scene a certain self-complacent, theatrical air, not very 
consonant with true greatness. It does not bear the gentle char- 
acter of resignation. It exhibits itself too ambitiously by a studied 
display of phrases. And the visible effort to produce, as it were, 
the striking and the sublime of some grand catastrophe, tends to 
deprive the situation of the essential qualities of earnestness and 
solemnity. 

In person Julian was of the middle size, but of a robust make, His charac- 
and thoroughly well-proportioned frame. His eyes were full of ter * 
fire, and his eyebrows handsome. His hair was peculiarly smooth ; 
his beard long, and terminated in a point. His nose was straight ; 
his mouth rather large, and his under lip hanging. 1 His neck 
short and bent ; his shoulders thick and broad ; and his counte- 
nance neither regular nor remarkable for beauty. 2 His public life 
was one unremitting struggle against the degenerate habits of the 
age, by the fatal influence of which the sinews of Koman greatness 
were gradually unstrung. Combining the utmost ability with heroic 
courage, he displayed the various qualifications of a consummate 
military commander no less in the conduct of sieges, the disposition 
of marches, and the management of encampments, than by the 
skilfulness of his plans, the fertility of his evolutions, and the bold- 
ness of his attempts in the field of battle. The terror of his arms 
continued long after the blows which they had inflicted were past ; 
and the rugged tribes, which he had quelled into submission, re- 
mained tranquil until his death. Possessing that double art which 



It is pretended, that when Julian felt himself wounded, imagining he saw Jesus Christ, 
he filled his hand with blood, and cast it towards heaven with the blasphemous exclam- 
ation : ''Glut thyself. Thou hast conquered, Galilsean, but I still renounce thee," &c 
See Theodor. lib. hi. c. 20. Sozom. lib. vi. c. 2. See the different reports of his death 
in Le Beau, Hist, du Bas-Empire, torn. iii. p. 374. 

1 Labro inferiore demisso, al. diviso. It was, probably, the pouting lip, like that of 
the imperial family of Austria. See Valesius and Wagner, in loc. 

2 Ammian. lib. xxv. c. 4. Comp. Misop. See also Greg. Nazianz. in Julian. 
Orat. ii. 



54 THE CH"KISTIA> T CHUECH IN THE FOTTKTH CENTTJET. 

a.d. 363. botli inspires affection and enforces authority, he contrived to induce 
his troops, even without pay, to encounter the fiercest adversaries ; 
and he succeeded in leading on bands of men, long accustomed and 
devotedly attached to the bleak regions of Graul, into distant coun- 
tries of vast extent, through the burning plains of Assyria to the 
very frontiers of Media. So singular, indeed, was the ascendency 
which he had acquired, that the mere threat of retiring into private 
life was sufficient, as it were, to silence the murmurs of the dis- 
contented. His well-built frame, hardened by long practice, en- 
abled him to brave the severest changes of climate and to sustain 
the most harassing fatigues. Requiring but little sleep or suste- 
nance, he divided the period which others lost in rest, between the 
duties of personal vigilance and the pursuits of literary composition. 
Of the less brilliant, but far more solid, qualities which constitute 
true greatness, his love of justice and moderation, with a few dis- 
graceful exceptions, have appeared in the course of his history. 
The greater part of his time, when at Antioch, was devoted to 
judicial proceedings. Though he was apt during trials to put irrele- 
vant questions respecting the sect to which the parties before the 
court belonged, his decisions are said to have been free from the 
bias of religious prejudice. They were generally marked by preci- 
sion, though sometimes grounded rather on natural equity than on 
established law. Taught by experience the odious nature of calumny, 
he was slow to attend to the charges of informers ; and he displayed 
the most dignified contempt for points to which weak and unjust 
princes would have attached considerable weight. He rejected 
accusations, even when directed against men for whom he enter- 
tained a personal dislike. Yet the impartial historian has stated 
as a circumstance which but ill accords with his character for 
equity, that in his reign, persons who complained against magis- 
trates, however distinguished might be then 1 own privileges, con- 
nections, and services, seldom obtained the redress they deserved, 
and found themselves compelled to purchase by secret bribes ex- 
emption from annoyance. His chastity, 1 a virtue which he con- 
sidered as shedding as fair a lustre on the mind as beautv confers 
on the body, was not, even in the ardour of youth, exposed to the 
slightest suspicion from his most intimate followers. When in 
Assyria, a country no less remarkable for the seductive beauty than 
for the pliant morals of the female sex, 2 he preserved unimpeached 
the character of Stoical indifference by which he was distinguished, 
and refused even to venture on the sight of the fair captives whom 
the chances of war had placed in his possession. 3 

1 Mamert. in Panegyr. Vet. Liban. Orat. Parent, c. 88. Recolebat sarpe dictum 
Lyrici Baccbylidis, quern legebat jucunde., id adserentem, quod ut egregius pictor vul- 
tum specie-sum emngit, ita pudicitia celsius consurgentein vitam exornat. Ammian. 
lib. xxv. c. 4. 

2 Quint. Curt. lib. v. &c. 

3 Ammian. lib. xxiv. c. 4. 



JULIAS'' S CHAEACTEE. 55 

In a word, 1 had his virtues, flowing in a more natural and equable a.d. 363. 
course from genuine feeling, depended less on the forced and fitful 
suggestions of artificial self-schooling ; had a proper sense of dignity 
imparted the minor attributes of grace to his demeanour, and true 
magnanimity enhanced the splendour of his exploits, by withdrawing 
from them all appearance of vanity and ostentation ; 2 and above all, 
had right views of religion inspired a more just and benign, as well 
as more rational, spirit, to his policy and conduct ; his name, uniting 
the military fame of Alexander with the virtuous reputation of 
Marcus Aurelius, the two objects of his imitation, 3 would have 
shone among the most illustrious in the annals of history. 4 

His body was transported to Tarsus, and buried near that city. 
His monument, rising on the banks of the Cydnus, was regarded 
by the Pagans as a temple, and bore engraven on it the following 
simple distich : — 

Julian, having passed the rapid-rolling Tigris, lies here, 

He united the qualities of a good prince and a brave warrior. 5 

1 Thomas, after having shown the difference between the character of Julian and 
that of Marcus Aurelius, whom he affected to imitate, justly observes : " Son exte'rieiir 
etait simple, son caractere ne 1' etait pas. Ses discours, ses actions avaient de l'appareil 
et semblaient avertir qu'il etait grand. Suivez-le; sa passion pour la gloire perce 
partout. II lui faut un theatre et des battemens de mains. II sindigne qu'on les 
refuse. II se venge, il est vrai, plus en homme d'esprit qu'en prince irrite qui com- 
mandait a cent mille hommes ; mais il se venge. II court a la renommee ; il l'apelle. 
II flatte pour etre flatte. II veut etre tout a la fois Platon, Marc-Aurele, et Alexandre/' 
(Essai sur les Eloges, ch. xx.) 

2 His character, as drawn by Prudentius, is well known : 

Ductor fortissimus armis ; 

Conditor et legum celeberrimus ; ore manuque 

Consultor patriae ; sed non consultor habendte 

Religionis ; amans tercentum millia Divum. 

Perfidus ille Deo, sed non et perfidus Orbi. 

Apotheos. 450, &c. 
Ammianus has thus candidly mentioned his defects : " Levioris ingenii : verum hoc 
instituto rectissimo temperabat, emendari se, cum deviaret a fruge bona, permittens. 
Lingua? fusions et admodum raro silentis : prsesagiorum sciscitationi nimire deditus, 
ut aequiparare videretur in hac parte principem Hadriaimm: superstitiosus magis, 
quarn sacrorum legitimus observator, innumeras sine parsimonia pecudes mactans : ut 
aestimaretur, si revertisset de Parthis, boves jam defuturos: Alarciillius similis Ca?saris, 
in quern id accepimus dictum, 0/ Xsvxol (36i$ Mu^xa t& Kala-a,^. Av c-l vtyAo-y.s, ifx,i7s 
KTOjXopidci. Yulgi plausibus la?tus, laudum etiam ex minimis rebus intemperans ad- 
petitor, popularitatis cupiditate cum indignis loqui saspe adfectans," &c (lib. xxv.) 

3 Comp. Julian. Ep. ad Themist. 

4 In this account of Julian, besides the original text of Ammianus, we have chiefly 
followed the elegant work of La Bleterie, Vie de Julien. Additional information may- 
be found in Jondot, Histoire de l'Empereur Julien, 2 vols. Paris, 1817. This latter 
work, though it contains many just strictures on the conduct of the Emperor, is for 
the most part written in a vein of declamatory detraction. The author is fond of 
drawing a parallel in his notes between the Russian expedition of Bonaparte and the 
Parthian war of Julian. M. Jondot has likewise given an account of Julian in the 
Biographie Universelle, torn. xxii. See also on the subject of Julian : Ueber den 
Kaiser Julianus und sein Zeitalter. Ein historisches Gemalde, von A. Neander. 
Leips. 1812. 

5 IOYAIANOC META TirPIN ArAPPOON EN0AAE KEITAI • 
AMOOTEPON BACIAEYC I" ArAQOC KPATEPOCT' AIXMHTHC. 

Zosimus. 



56 THE CHEISTIAN CHUKCH I2s T THE EOTJETH CENTURY. 



A.D. 363. HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, FROM THE DEATH OF JULIAN TO THE END 

OF THE FOURTH CENTURY. — A.D. 363 to 400. 

Policy of Jovian, the successor of Julian, a zealous Christian, conducted 

Jovian. himself with great temper and moderation in ecclesiastical affairs. 
He lost no time in restoring the free exercise of the Christian reli- 
gion, and in abolishing the laws enacted by Julian to degrade and 
oppress the sacerdotal order. He restored the privileges and im- 
munities of the Church, placing it in nearly the same condition in 
which it had been left by Constantine. He recalled the prelates 
banished during the preceding reign. He manifested his attach- 
ment to the Orthodox believers in the Trinity by the attention 
which he paid to the illustrious Athanasius, who became his prin- 
cipal adviser on the affairs of the Church ; and by checking the 
petulance 1 of the Arians when they pertinaciously attempted to 
regain the ascendency lost since the time of Constantius. But, 
though decidedly Orthodox, he wisely and magnanimously forbore 
to persecute either the Sectaries or the Pagans. 2 He granted a full 
and free toleration to all religious opinions and all modes of worship, 
and he showed a sincere desire to allay religious animosity, 3 and to 
promote peace and unity in the Church. 4 
vaientinian. Yalentinian, whose great qualities as a sovereign and a legislator 
moderation! 8 were strangely contrasted with the natural violence and ferocity of 
his disposition, steadily pursued the temperate and judicious policy 
of his predecessor. He, indeed, severely prohibited the nocturnal 
sacrifices of the Pagans, and magical incantations, and occasionally 
restrained those Sectaries 5 who were reputedly guilty of flagrant 



Cedrenus says: To $6<rr'/ivov erZf/M u,xifcou,i(rtiYi Iv KavcrfiotvrivovroXa tcu.\ lr£9v) ev k&gvetxi 
•xo^Qvool xvXivdsottd&i, iv m Itrzygoc^/Sv \Xtyuov rodi, 

KYANJ2 En' APrXPOENTI, An' EYOPHTAO POAflN 

nEPCIAOC EK TAIHC ATEAEYTHTiQ EIII EPrfi 

KINHCAC CTPATIAN, TOAE IOYAIANOC AAXE CHMA, 

AMOOTEPON BACIAEYC T' ArA®C KPATEPOCT AIXMHTHC. 
See Llndenbrog. not. in Amm. Marcell. lib. xxv. c. 10. 

1 Some original documents, containing a curious account of the conferences between 
Jovian and the Arian deputies from Alexandria, are inserted in the second volume of 
the works of Athanasius. Compare Bleterie, Histoire de Jovien, torn. i. pp. 138-147. 

2 Theodoret, (lib. v. c. 21,) represents Jovian as having interdicted the worship of 
idols, and this statement is adopted by many modern ecclesiastical historians. But 
Themistius, a contemporary orator, and himself a heathen, positively asserts the con- 
trary ; and his testimony is quoted, and not contradicted, by Socrates. 

3 It is probable that either the direct influence of the Emperor, or the knowledge of 
his pacific sentiments, brought about the Synod of Antioch, in which a sort of recon- 
ciliation took place between the A:ioma?an party of Acacius of Csesarea, and the Catho- 
lics who adhered to Meletius, bishop of Antioch. The former agreed to receive the 
definitions of the Nicene Council, and the latter abated something of their rigour re- 
specting the use of the term consub&tantial. The consequence was that the sincerity 
of the Acacians was doubtful, and Meletius and his friends were stigmatized as Semi- 
Arians and Macedonians. 

4 For a more detailed account of Jovian's proceedings, the reader is referred to 
Socrates, lib. iii. c. 24, 25. Sozomen, lib. vi. c. 3, 4, 5. Theodoret, lib. iv. c. 1-4. 

5 Particularly the Manichrcans and the Donatists, the former of whom were accused 
of* licentiousness, and of practising magical incantations at their secret meetings. The 



STATE OF THE CHURCH OF ROME. 57 

immorality, or obnoxious as disturbers of the public peace. But, a.d. 366. 
with these few exceptions, he allowed the free exercise of religious 
worship to all, extending the equal protection of the law to heretics, 
Jews, and heathens. 1 In consequence of this moderation, and of 
the Emperor's strict and vigorous administration of the laws, the 
Western Churches, generally speaking, were little disturbed by the 
religious animosities or rancorous persecutions, so disgraceful to the 
reign of Constantius. 2 

The Church of Kome was at this time peaceably governed by Affairs of 
Liberius, who, after his return from banishment, retracted his ofRom^° 
profession of Arianism and his condemnation of Athanasius, and Sept - 24 - 
adhered steadfastly to the Orthodox party. That party, superior 
in numbers, and no longer oppressed by the tyranny of Constantius, 
or the insidious policy of Julian, speedily regained the ascendency. 3 
On the death of Liberius, a violent and disgraceful conflict arose 
between two rival candidates for the vacant see, hitherto unexampled 
in the annals of Christian Rome, though by no means uncommon 
in later ages. Damasus, a Spaniard by birth, was elected to succeed schism be- 
Liberius, an election made, it appears, in due form and with the mTsusSfd 
sanction of the public authorities ; but a considerable party in the Uradnus. 
Church, dissatisfied with his character and with his conduct during 1 
the Arian persecution, protested against his appointment, and elected 
one Ursicinus in opposition to him. The prsefect Juventius en- 
deavoured to put a stop to those irregular proceedings ; upon 
which a popular commotion was excited, and a number of the 
friends of Ursicinus assembled in the Basilica of Sicininus. There 
they were attacked, and many cruelly massacred by the armed par- 
tizans 4 of Damasus. The popular fury on both sides was so great, 

Donatists were regarded, not only as rebels against the civil authority, but as guilty of 
sacrilege in rebaptizing the members of a different communion. 

1 After the death of Julian, the heathen temples were often attacked, and sometimes 
demolished in popular tumults. Yalentinian allowed guards to be stationed for their 
protection, and at the same time consulted the feelings of his Christian subjects by 
forbidding any Christian soldier to be employed in that service. 

2 Socrates, lib. iv. c. 1. Sozom. lib. vi. c. 8. Theodoret, lib. iv. c. 6. 

3 Liberius, in his epistle to those Eastern bishops who renounced Macedonianism 
and Semi- Arianism, (apud Socrat. lib. iv. c. 12) represents all the Western bishops as 
having disavowed the profession of Eimini, and embraced 'the doctrine of the Xicene 
Council. _ This, however, must be understood with some limitation, as the important 
see of Milan was then, and for some time after, occupied by the Arian prelate Auxen- 
tius. In the year 364, Hilary, bishop of Poitiers, had a vigorous contest with Auxentius, 
endeavouring to prove that he was a heretic, and unworthy of the situation which he 
held. But Valentinian, to whom the matter was referred/ being either deceived by an 
ambiguous Confession of Faith drawn up by Auxentius, or resolved to preserve a strict 
impartiality in those contests, not only maintained him in possession of his see, but 
ordered Hilary to quit Milan. 

* In a petition presented to the Emperor by two Presbyters of the party of Ursicinus, 
it is asserted that Damasus marched in person to the attack, at the head of his clergy 
and a body of hired gladiators, and that of a hundred and sixty dead bodies which 
were found, not one belonged to his party. This accusation excites the choler of 
Baromus, and is discreetly passed over in silence by Fleury and other Roman Catholic 
historians. The reflections which the heathen Ammianus Marcellinus takes occasion 



58 THE CHRISTIAN CHTJBCH EN THE FOTJETH CENTUEY. 

a.d. 373. that the prsefect was compelled to provide for his safety by leaving 
the city ; nor could the tumult be quelled but by the utmost exer- 
cise of imperial authority. The victory remained with Damasus ;* 
his election was confirmed ; and the rival Pope, with many of his 
abettors, was banished from Rome. With this exception, the 
tranquillity of the Western Churches experienced no material 
interruption during the reign of Valentinian, and Christianity 
continued to make silent but rapid advances, both in the Eoman 
provinces and among the independent barbarians. By the vigor- 
ous, and, in the main, judicious enactments of Valentinian, the 
prosperity of the Western Church was greatly promoted, and 
increased dignity and importance were attached to the Christian 
profession. 

vaiens per- Very different was the condition of the Eastern Churches under 

secures tns 

Catholics. the rule of Vaiens, brother to Valentinian, but resembling him in 
nothing but his faults. A proselyte to the opinions of Eudoxius, 
the Arian archbishop of Constantinople, by whom he was baptized, 
he is said to have solemnly sworn, at the instigation of that prelate, 
to exert all his power in favour of the party espoused by him, and 
to the prejudice of Catholicism. It does not appear that he mo- 
lested the pagans, or even the heretics ; but all who adhered to the 
Xicene 2 opinions were exposed to a severe persecution. At Con- 
stantinople, and in many other places, the churches were forcibly 
taken away from the Orthodox and transferred to the Arians. 
Meletius, bishop of Antioch, Eusebius of Samosata, Gregory of 
Nyssa, and many other Catholic pastors, were banished, and the 
most arbitrary measures were employed to force persons of every 
age, sex, and condition to abjure their faith. In Cappadocia those 
measures were opposed, with some degree of success, by the zeal 
and activity of Basil, bishop of Caesarea, and his friend Gregory 
oS'azianzen ; the high character and firm and intrepid conduct of 
both of whom commanded the respect, or excited the awe of the 
Emperor, and procured them an indulgence which was granted to 
few. At Alexandria, also, Athanasius was protected from the im- 
perial officers by their fear of a popular commotion : and during 
his life his followers experienced comparatively little molestation. 
After his death, the Arians, supported by the praefect Palladius, 
forcibly introduced Lucius, a man previously conspicuous by his 
rancorous opposition to Athanasius, into the vacant see. Peter, 
who had been appointed to it by the unanimous consent of the 
Catholics, was imprisoned ; all the clergy who espoused his cause 



from this incident to make on the ambition, luxury, and worldly-mindedness of the 
Roman Pontiffs, are too well known to need quoting. 

1 Socr. lib. iv. c. 29. Sozom. lib. vi. c. 23. Ammian. Marcellin lib. xxvii. e. 13. 

2 A copious, and, probably, somewhat exaggerated account of the sufferings of the 
Orthodox under Vaiens, is given by Socrates, lib. iv. c. 4. et seq., Sozom. lib. vi. c. 6. 
et seq., and particularly by Theodoret, lib. iv. c. 22-36. 



POLICY Or THE SECTARIES. 59 

were banished ; and throughout Egypt innumerable acts of cruelty a.d. 376. 
and oppression were exercised upon those who adhered to the 
Xicene doctrines, especially the monks, whose zealous opposition to 
Arianism 1 rendered them peculiarly obnoxious. 

The Arians might, perhaps, have been more successful in their J^* among 
efforts to secure a complete ascendency if they had not been the Arians, 
weakened by their own dissensions. Their numerical strength 
was greatly increased by the accession of the Goths 2 of Mcesia and 
Thrace, who, as it is said, through the influence of their bishop, 
Ulphilas, embraced the doctrines of Alius in the time of Valens, 
and by their subsequent conquests disseminated them through a 
great part of Western Europe. But the divisions 3 among them 
were almost infinite, and (though frequently relating only to minor 
points of doctrine) effectually prevented all unanimity and concert 
in their proceedings. Many of the semi- Arians and Macedonians 
were so jealous of the ascendency of the pure Arians, that rather 
than hold any communion with them, they chose to reunite them- 
selves to the Catholics. 4 

The Eunomians were at variance with all other sects, and even and Euno- 
among themselves ; so that though Yalens was able for a time to ians * 
harass and depress the Orthodox, he could not organize his own 
party, composed of such discordant materials, into a compact and 
permanent society. 

Gratian, the son and successor of Yalentinian, though of a mild 
and pacific disposition, did not exercise his father's impartiality in 

1 Gibbon (vol. iv. c. 25,) extenuates the persecution of Valens, and tries to make it 
appear that his agents often exceeded then- master's instructions and intentions. In 
such matters it is almost impossible to discriminate between the portions of blame due 
to an arbitrary monarch, or to his advisers and agents ; but the maxim, Qui facit per 
alteram, facit per se, seems as justly applicable to princes as to persons of an inferior 
class. It is certain that many severities were exercised against the Catholics, of which 
the rigorous prohibition of then* religious worship was not the least. It is no less cer- 
tain that Yalens often interfered personally in the controversy in a busy meddling 
manner ; and the character given of him by the impartial Marcellinus, who represents 
him as in crudelitatem proclivum, subagrestis ingenti, injivriosum, iracundum, crimin- 
antibus sine differentia veri et falsi facile patentem, would not lead us to suppose that 
he greatly disapproved of the cruelties inflicted in his name on a body of men who 
thwarted his views and inclinations ; but rather make us suspect that, on some occa- 
sions, his direct share in them was greater than Gibbon is willing to admit. 

2 The time of the first conversion of any considerable portion of the Goths to 
Christianity, and the immediate occasion of their embracing Arianism, are so variously 
stated by the ecclesiastical historians, that it is difficult, to arrive at any certain con- 
clusion on those points. The different accounts of the ancient writers are industriously 
brought together by Mascon, Geschichte der Teutschen, book vii. sec. 89, 40, pp. 317- 
322. However, there seems no reason for doubting that many of them embraced the 
Christian faith early in the 4th century; that about a.d. 372, the pagan king of the 
Visigoths, Athanaric, instituted a severe persecution against many of his subjects on 
account of then- attachment to it ; and that their lapse into Arianism took place dur- 
ing the reign of Valens. 

3 Socrates, lib. v. c. 20-24. 

4 This reconciliation, perhaps more apparent than real, took place in the year 365, 
chiefly through the influence of Eustathius of Sebaste, whose subsequent conduct made 
it appeal- that he acted more from policy than conviction, on this occasion. 



60 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH I]S T THE FOURTH CENTURY. 

a.d. 376. religious matters. Imbued by St. Ambrose, 1 bishop of Milan, 
Religious with a strong attachment to the Catholic faith, and, perhaps, with 
greaSy something of an intolerant spirit, he soon showed a disposition to 
abridged by circumscribe 2 the liberty hitherto enjoyed by the Sectaries. He 
appears, indeed, to have tolerated the Arians f but the Eunomians, 
the Photinians, and the Manichseans were prohibited from holding 
any public religious assembly ; and the Donatists were commanded 
to surrender all the churches in their possession to the Catholics, 
and forbidden, under severe penalties, even to hold any private 
conventicle. When the death of Talens placed Gratian at the head 
of the Eastern empire, the exiled 4 prelates were immediately re- 
called : and though not immediately restored to their lost dignities 
and emoluments, especially where the Arians were numerous and 
powerful, it was not difficult to perceive that such a measure was 
in contemplation. The pagans, 5 though nominally tolerated, were 
subjected to various vexatious restrictions; then' priests were de- 
prived of many privileges and exemptions, hitherto enjoyed by them; 
and plain indications were given that the liberal policy observed 
by Jovian and Yalentinian was about to be succeeded by a very 
different system. 
Policy and ^ was reserved for Theodosius, a prince of greater talents than 
legislation of Gratian, but acting upon the same maxims, and under the influence 

Ineodosius , . . 

of the same advisers, to carry this change into effect. Immediately 
after his baptism, 6 his zeal for the Catholic doctrines displayed itself 

1 Upon the death of Auxentius, a.d. 374, Ambrose, who was then governor of the 
province, was chosen to succeed him by popular acclamation. Though a layman, and 
not even baptized at the time of his election, he applied himself so zealously to his 
new profession, that he quickly surpassed most of his contemporaries, and became, 
through his talents, and his influence with the emperors, the great arbiter of the affairs 
of the Western Churches. It is easy to perceive that the authority of the bishops of 
Rome was very insignificant compared with that exercised by Ambrose. 

2 Sozom. lib. vii. c. 1 ; and for Gratian's Laws against Heretics, see Cod. Theodos. 
lib. xvi. tit. 5. 1. 4, 5. 

3 The Arians would not have escaped, if the second constitution of Gratian, pub- 
lished a.d. 379, against heretics, ' Omnes vetitse,' had been acted upon to the full 
extent of the letter. But this does not seem to have been the case; at least the 
Arians were allowed to retain their churches, even those which they had usurped from 
the Catholics, till some time after the accession of Theodosius. 

4 Though persons who have suffered under religious persecution are seldom disposed 
to show much forbearance towards those whom they regard as the authors of their 
misfortunes, some of the restored Catholic bishops had the magnanimity to offer to 
leave their Arian competitors in possession of then* sees, in case they would consent 
to embrace the Kicene faith. Sozom. lib. vii. c. 2. 

5 Gratian's laws against the pagans do not now appear in the Theodosian Code. 
They are, however, mentioned by the heathen orator Symmachus, Relat. ad Valentin., 
as well as by Ambrose, in his reply to Symmachus, and are appealed to in a subse- 
quent constitution of Honorius, Cod. Theodos. lib. xvi. tit. 10. 1. 20, De Paganis. 

6 Theodosius was baptized in the beginning of the year 380, at Thessalonica, by 
Ascholius, bishop of that place. The famous law, ' Cunctos populos,' which declares 
the faith professed by Pope Damasus and Peter of Alexandria to be the only true one, 
and every departure from it to be impious and heretical, was promulgated a few clays 
after. Sozom. lib. vii. c. 4, and compare Cod. Theodos. lib. xvi. tit. 1. 1. 2. De Fide 
Catholica. 



THEODOSITTS ST7PPEESSES AEIAKISM. 61 

in a series of intolerant enactments against heretics. 1 On his arrival a.d. 380. 
at Constantinople, where Arianism had predominated during forty 
years, Demophilus, the successor of Eudoxius, was immediately 
required to embrace the Nicene faith, or renounce his bishopric. 
As he refused to change his principles, he, and the clergy who ad- 
hered to him, were expelled from the city. Gregory Sazianzen, 
who, upon the death of Yalens, had come to take charge of the 
oppressed and scattered Catholics 2 of Constantinople, was chosen 
to fill the vacant see, by the arbitrary interposition of the Emperor, 
rather than by a regular canonical appointment. 3 The Sectaries 
were prohibited from holding any religious assembly within the 
walls of towns, and a commission was issued, by which the imperial 
officers were empowered to eject them from the churches which 
they had usurped, and to reinstate the Catholics. This mandate 
was rigidly enforced, and, shortly after, the heretics were forbidden 
to consecrate bishops, or to erect places of worship, either in the 
cities or the country. Little opposition was made to these sweep- 
ing measures. In many districts the Arians were in a humiliating 
minority ; in others, where their numbers were greater, they were 
so divided into factions, as to be incapable of unity of purpose. 
Their religious principles, moreover, were but ill calculated to sup- 
port them in the hour of trial. 4 They were dispersed and intimi- 
dated, and gradually conformed to the established system ; and thus 
the public profession of that doctrine, once triumphant throughout 
the Roman Empire, was suppressed almost without a struggle. 

While Theodosius, in the East, thus endeavoured to suppress Conduct of 
heresy by penal enactments, and to unite the Orthodox (with 
whatever success) by the convocation of the Council of Constan- 
tinople, 5 Ambrose exerted himself zealously to the same purpose 

1 The Theodosian Code (lib. xvi. tit. 5, De Hasreticis) contains not fewer than 
fifteen rigorous constitutions by this Emperor against the various denominations of 
Sectaries. 

2 The exercise of the Catholic worship had been so completely suppressed at Con- 
stantinople that Gregory was forced to assemble his congregation in a private apart- 
ment ; and even this proceeding was attended with some risk. The apartment was 
called Anastasia, as being the place of the resurrection of the Nicene faith. Sozom. 
lib. vii. c. 5. 

3 The question of the validity of Gregory's appointment was rendered still more 
perplexed, by Maximus the Cynic, a worthless person, who first insinuated himself 
into Gregory's favour, and then surreptitiously obtained consecration, as archbishop of 
Constantinople, by the Egyptian bishops. The Western prelates were at variance 
with those of the East about this time, and for a while they espoused the cause of 
Maximus, and opposed the promotion of Gregory. 

4 Gibbon's remarks on the cause of the want of firmness manifested by the Arians 
at this time, (vol. v. ch. xxvii.) though made in no friendly spirit, are, upon the 
whole, just and well worthy of attention. The whole tenor of ecclesiastical history 
shows that a Christian sect, denying the divinity of the Saviour, carries a principle of 
decay in its own bosom. 

5 This synod created more divisions than it healed. The Macedonians, whom the 
Emperor hoped to reconcile, were completely alienated ; the differences already exist- 
ing between the Western and the Eastern Churches were augmented, and the illus- 



62 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IS" THE FOURTH CENTURY. 

a.d. 385. in the West. Through his influence, Palladius and Secundianus, 
the only Arian bishops of note within Gratian's dominions, were 
condemned and deposed at the Synod of Aquileia. The accession 
of the younger Yalentinian revived, however, the hopes and spirits 
Svoure^by °f ^ na ^ sec ^- His mother, Justina, had long been a proselyte to 
the Empress their doctrines, though she concealed her sentiments during her 
husband's lifetime. The virtual sovereignty of Italy and Illyricum. 
having fallen into her hands by the death of Gratian, she employed 
it to secure a free exercise of their religion, 1 and an equality of 
privileges for her own party. But when, in pursuance of those 
objects, she demanded that one of the principal churches in Milan, 
in the possession of the Catholics, should be surrendered for her 
accommodation, she was encountered by Ambrose, who declared him- 
Her plans are self ready to suffer every extremity rather than allow the churches 
byAmbrose d °f ^" 0( i to De contaminated by the worship of heretics. The Em- 
press strained every nerve, not neglecting intimidation, to carry 
her point, but the firmness and intrepidity of the archbishop pre- 
vailed. Shortly after, Justina, or her ministers, contrived to ob- 
tain a sentence of banishment against Ambrose, apparently under 
the pretext that he had infringed the toleration granted by the 
Emperor to his Arian subjects. But the archbishop, foreseeing 
the dangers to which his flock would be exposed during his ab- 
sence, boldly refused to obey the sentence, and though matters 
proceeded to such an extremity that he was actually besieged in 
his cathedral by the imperial troops, his firmness, aided by the 
enthusiastic zeal of the people of Milan in his cause, and by the 
dexterous interposition of a few miracles, 2 (a species of machinery 
already extensively employed,) finally triumphed over all opposi- 
tion. 3 The influence which Theodosius soon after obtained in the 
affairs of Italy, finally extinguished the hopes and completed the 
downfall of the Arian faction in the West. 

Though Theodosius was severe in enacting penalties against 
heretics, he was, upon the whole, lenient in enforcing them, and 
was satisfied with preventing the public profession of obnoxious 
opinions. It was reserved for the usurper Maximus, aided by two 



trious and amiable Gregory Nazianzen fell a victim to the jealousy of Lis brother 
prelates, being forced to resign his archbishopric in order to make room for Nectarius, a 
man much inferior to Gregory in every respect, and elected under circumstances highly 
discreditable, both to himself, and those who patronized him. Sozom. lib. vii. c. 7, 8. 

1 It is extraordinary that the Constitution whereby Valentinian grants Lis Arian 
subjects the most ample liberty of conscience, and in which he even seems to admit 
the Orthodoxy of the Creed of Rimini, is still extant in the Theodosian Code, under 
the title ' De Fide Catholica.' 

2 He was directed, in a dream, to the bodies of two unknown martyrs, Gervasius 
and Protasius, by which holy relics the usual miraculous cures were wrought. The 
Arians discerned the artifice, and exclaimed against it ; but the Empress and her ad- 
visers dared not contend against the religious frenzy of the people. 

'•> We have a circumstantial account of these contests with Justina from the pen of 
Ambrose himself. Epist. 20, 21, 22, &c. Compare Sozom. lib. vii. c. 13. 



THE DOWNFALL OF PAGANISM. 63 

Catholic prelates of very equivocal character, to set the first ex- a.d. 388. 
ample, — one, alas ! too fatally followed, of persecuting Christians to 
death for their religious opinions. Their victims were Priscillian, 
bishop of Avila, in Spain, with several of his followers, male and 
female. He had imbibed a system, compounded, it is said, of 
the errors of the Manichaeans and of the Gnostics, first introduced 
into Spain by an Egyptian named Mark ; and he had made many 
proselytes by his eloquence and address. His errors, or his 
popularity, excited the alarm of Idacius, bishop of Meriola, and 
Ithacius, bishop of Sossuba, by whose joint influence his doctrines 
were condemned at the Council of Saragossa. Not satisfied with 
this triumph, they obtained, after much importunity, a sentence of ^Inlndhis 
banishment from the Emperor Gratian against Priscillian and his followers. 
followers. The leaders of the party, however, contrived to pro- 
cure the revocation of that sentence, and the restoration of their 
churches. On their reinstatement they engaged the people and 
the imperial officers so completely in their interest, that Ithacius 
was in his turn compelled to fly. Full of resentment, he applied 
to Maximus, as soon as the death of Gratian had left that usurper 
in possession of Spain and Graul, and represented the principles and 
conduct of the Priscillianists in the most odious light. Maximus 
warmly espoused his cause, and ordered Priscillian and his principal 
associates to be apprehended and tried by an Ecclesiastical Synod 
at Bourdeaux. Priscillian having appealed to the Emperor, the 
cause was carried before the Civil Tribunal, and, notwithstanding 
the humane intercession of St. Martin of Tours, who represented 
that exclusion from the pale of the Church would be a sufficient 
punishment, and that it was a thing unheard of, that secular judges 
should take cognizance of errors in faith and doctrine, he was finally 
condemned and executed. Six of his associates, among whom were 
Euchrocia, a noble Aquitanian matron, and Latronianus, an emment 
poet, shared the same fate. Instantius, a Spanish prelate, already 
condemned by the Synod of Bourdeaux, was deposed and banished 
to Scilly ; the meaner disciples were dispersed through various parts 
of G-aul. 1 These proceedings, equally irregular and barbarous, 
excited general reprobation ; and it is to the honour of Ambrose 
and St. Martin, whose zeal for the Catholic faith sometimes 
amounted to intolerance, that they openly and fearlessly expressed 
their abhorrence of the sanguinary conduct of Maximus, and for a 
long time refused to hold religious communion either with him, or 
his instigators, Idacius and Ithacius. 

The religious liberty of the Pagans, though considerably abridged p^™f^ of 
by Gratian, was yet greater than had been allowed by the laws of 
Constantine and his immediate successors. The priests and ves- 
tals were deprived of then 1 immunities ; the revenues of the temples 

1 Sulpic. Sever. Hist. Sacr. lib. ii. c. 65. 



64 THE CHEISTIA^ CHUECH IN THE EOrETH CEXTrET. 

a.d.391. were confiscated for the service of the State: hut the heathen 
rites of then 1 forefathers were still allowed to those who were con- 
scientiously attached to them, provided they abstained from noc- 
turnal sacrifices and magical incantations. But when Theodosius, 1 
in the early part of his reign, prohibited the immolation of victims, 
their superstition was attacked in its most vital part. 2 and. in the 
course of a few years, the success of his measures against heresv, 
and his triumph over Maximus. emboldened him to proceed to 
steps of a still more decisive kind, and to attempt the entire sub- 
version of the already tottering fabric of paganism. A commission 
was issued to the prefect of the East, directing him to close all 
heathen temples within his jurisdiction ; and while the imperial 
officers were enowed in this task. 3 assisted bv the clergy, and 
especially by the monks, with a vigour not always strictly legal, 
Theodosius gradually increased the rigour of his legislative pro- 
hibitions. A law was passed in the year 391, declaring that to 
enter a heathen temple, with a religious purpose, was an offence 
liable to a fine of fifteen pounds of gold ; and in the following year, 
not only all public, but even all private and domestic, exercise of 
heathen rites was interdicted under the severest penalties. 4 In 
some few instances, the intemperate and tumultuous proceedings 
of the monks in destroying the temples, excited the opposition of 
the fanatical heathen peasantry, and at Alexandria a serious com- 
motion, fatal to many Christians, was occasioned by the injudicious 
measures of the patriarch Theophilus. But. generally speaking, 
the pagans showed little disposition to incur the rigorous penalties 
of the laws, still less to become martyrs for a religion so little cal- 
culated to inspire real faith or fortitude. Some show of zeal in 
the cause of paganism was made at Borne, where the votaries of 
the ancient superstition still had a strong party, both among the 
senate and populace. But the eloquent exertions of Symmachus, 
the champion of heathenism, were easily baffled by Ambrose, 5 who 

1 The laws of this Emperor and his successors against heathenism, which are 
numerous, are preserved in the Theodosian Code, lib. xvi. tit. 10. De Paganis Sacri- 
ficiis et Templis. 

2 There is an ambiguity in the law published a.d. 381, Si quis vetitis sacrineiis, 
(Cod. Theodos. lib. xvi. tit. x. 1. 7. De Paganis) which might seem to justify the 
inference that every species of sacrificing was not prohibited. Zosimus and Libanius 
both concur in affirming, that the immolation of victims was forbidden about this 
time, and that only the use of incense was allowed ; but it is not quite clear whether 
they allude to the above law, or to the one addressed to Cynegius, a.d. 385. Vid. 
Cod. Theodos. lib. xvi. tit. x. 1.9, with Godefroy's commentary. 

3 Theodoret, lib. v. c. 21, and Sozomen, lib. vii. c. 15, give an account of the destruc- 
tion of idolatry in the Eastern Empire. 

4 The terms of the law are sufficiently comprehensive : " Xuilus omnino .... 
sensu carentibus simulachris, vel insontem victimam csedit ; vel secretiore piaculo, 
Larem igne, meno Genium, Penates nidore veneratus, accendat lamina, imponat ton, 
serta suspendat." Cod. Theod. lib. xvi. tit. x. 1. 12. The penalty imposed was con- 
fiscation of the house or property where the offence was committed, or, in certain 
cases, a fine of twenty-five pounds of gold. 

5 Ambrose. Epist." 17, 18. 



EETEOSPECTIYE VIEW. 65 

encountered him with equal ability, better argument, and a confident a.d. 396. 
reliance on the support of his sovereign ; and not long after, a more 
important victory was gained, in an enactment by the senate, carried, 
through the influence of Theodosius, by an overwhelming majority, 
that Christianity should for the future be the sole religion of the 
Eoman State. This decisive measure sealed the ruin of paganism 
in Borne and its dependencies. The senators and nobles hastened to 
conform, nominally at least, to the dominant religion ; the inferior 
citizens followed their example, and St. Jerome was in a little 
while able to boast that every heathen altar in Eome was forsaken, 
and every temple had become a place of desolation. Arcadius and 
Honorius, the sons and successors of Theodosius, trod closely in 
his steps ; the zealous efforts of the clergy, especially of St. Martin 
of Tours, in the work of conversion and instruction, powerfully 
seconded the vigorous measures of the emperors, so that, at the 
close of the fourth century, the open profession of paganism was con- 
fined to the inhabitants of some obscure provinces, and to a few 
philosophers and men of rank, whose talents, on the one hand, or 
whose civil and military services, on the other, induced their gov- 
ernors to tolerate or connive at their religious opinions. Of the 
converts thus obtained to Christianity, many, doubtless, were 
honestly and fairly convinced by force of argument, and thus far 
were the interests of true religion promoted. But it is to be feared 
that the arbitrary measures of Theodosius were, upon the whole, 
injurious to the purity and welfare of the Catholic Church. The 
churches were filled with hypocritical pretenders, who, influenced 
by secular force or sordid self-interest, assumed the denomination 
of Christians, while their hearts were still attached to their former 
superstitions. It would have been happy for the Christian Church 
if the evil had been confined to the mere admission of these spuri- 
ous members. But, unfortunately, their spiritual rulers, aware of 
the insincerity of this portion of then- converts, and anxious to 
conciliate them, rashly compromised the dignity and truth of 
Christianity, by adulterating it with pagan superstitions and 
human inventions. The evils caused by thus alloying pure reli- 
gion with superstition and falsehood have subsisted ever since ; 
and most of the gross and debasing practices which deform Christ- 
ianity in Eoman Catholic countries, may be distinctly traced to 
this source. 

The retrospect of the fourth century, the most important period, Progress of 
perhaps, between the first promulgation of Christianity and the Sgithf 
Eeformation, is in some points of view not unfavourable. The fou ^ h cen " 
boundaries of the visible Church were extended, and the numbers 
of her subjects were considerably increased. In the earner part of 
this century the gospel was preached with success, and Churches 
were organized in Armenia, Iberia, and Abyssinia. A considerable 
tribe of Saracens, also, subject to Queen Mavia, or Moavia, is said 

r 



66 THE CHRISTIAN CHrECH OT THE EOrETH CEXTUET. 

a.d. 396. to have embraced Christianity in the reism of Valens. Jlanr of 
the pagan Gauls were converted, chiefly through the exertions of 
St. Martin of Tours. In the time of Theodosius the gospel began 
to make some progress in the frontier provinces of Germany : and 
if the Irish annalists may be credited, the Culdees formed various 
establishments on the coasts of Ireland and Scotland, and laboured 
diligently to instruct and enlighten the barbarous natives. It must 
be admitted that this gratifying picture of the triumphs of the 
gospel has its dark side : indeed, a full and impartial view of the 
subject is calculated to give the enlightened and pious Christian 
almost as much pain as pleasure. As the Church increased in 
numbers, she also increased rapidly in wealth, power, and influence;, 
and the evils which seldom fail to follow in the train of prosperity. 
soon began to manifest themselves. Artful and unprincipled men 
perceived the power of the Christian religion upon the human 
mind, and abused it to their own evil purposes. Ambitious sov- 
ereigns learned to make the Church an engine of State, and equally 
ambitious ecclesiastics conceived the bold design of subjecting the 
civil power to spiritual tyranny. Errors in doctrine were made 
inveterate by severity and injudicious opposition ; errors in prac- 
tice were frequently connived at through sordid and seltish motives. 
Thus schisms and heresies were multiplied and perpetuated ; seeds 
of corruption were sown, which speedily grew up in rank and mis- 
chievous luxuriance : and. perhaps, it is not too much to affirm, 
that nearly all the erroneous doctrines, corrupt practices, and re- 
ligious factions of the present day may be traced to this period. 

After the death of Julian, the Church suffered but little from 
external violence, at least within the limits of the Eoman Empire. 
If we except the persecution under Valens, the effects of which 
were transient, she was uniformly protected by the civil power, 
and her worst foes were those of her own household. The suffer- 
ings of the Christian subjects of Athanaric the Goth, are probably 
exaggerated : but there seems no reason to doubt that martyrdoms 
occurred among them. Xicetas and Sabbas are spoken of as the 
most eminent victims : of the former, tittle is known : the Acts of 
the latter have been preserved, and. making allowance for an 
alloy of the marvellous, from which few histories of martyrdom are 
exempt, there seems no reason to doubt their authenticity. The 
last persecution under Sapor, king of Persia. 1 between the years 
330 and 370, was of a more serious character. That monarch. 
exasperated by political and religious causes against his Christian 
subjects, pursued them with such unrelenting rigour, that the 

1 The best account of the Persian persecutions is contained in the Syrian Martyr- 
ology, published by Stephen Assemanni. In the first part of the work, attributed to 
Maruthas, the sufferings of the Christians under Sapor are described in a simple. u:i- 
ted manner, and without the garnish of improbable miracles, so usual in narra- 
tives of this kind. 



STATE OP THE SECTS. 67 

Church in that country never completely recovered from its a.d. 398. 
effects. 

The disposition already shown by the bishops of Rome to en- preMes^n° f 
croach upon the rights of their brethren, was held in check dur- the principal 
ing the lives of Theodosius and Ambrose. The pontiff Damasus 
was succeeded, in 385, by Siricius, a man of moderate abilities, and 
remarkable only as the first pope of whom we have any genuine 
Decretal epistles. He was succeeded, a.d. 398, by Anastatius, 
whose claim to notice rests only on his condemnation of the works 
of Origen, which he probably did not understand, and on his per- 
secution of the learned Ruffinus, Origen' s apologist and translator. 
At the same time, the patriarchs of Constantinople, placed by a 
decree of the Second General Council on an equality with the Ro- 
man pontiffs, began to extend their jurisdiction and their prero- 
gatives. Then- views were greatly promoted by the celebrated 
Chrysostom, who succeeded Nectarius in 398, and who soon showed 
that his ambition equalled his genius. On the death of Peter of 
Alexandria, Timothy, a man of little note or influence, governed 
that see for about four years. He was succeeded by Theophilus, 
an able, bold, active, ambitious, and unprincipled man, famous for 
his vigorous proceedings against heathenism, and still more so for 
his cruel treatment of the Origenists, and his rancorous persecution 
of Chrysostom. In the meantime the Church of Antioch was 
disturbed by a singular schism. When Eudoxius was translated 
from Antioch to Constantinople, Meletius was regularly ordained 
in his room. A small faction, however, called the Eustathians, 
suspecting his orthodoxy, refused to acknowledge him as then 
lawful pastor, and persuaded Lucifer, bishop of Calaris, to conse- 
crate a presbyter named Paulinus, in opposition to him. The 
schism was prolonged and aggravated, first by the obstinacy of 
the popes and other Western bishops, who adhered to the cause 
of Paulinus; and afterwards by the perverseness and bad faith 
of the fathers of the Council of Constantinople, in appointing 
Flavian as Meletius' s successor, in spite of an express pledge, 
that upon the demise of one of the rival prelates, the survivor 
should be allowed to remain in possession of the disputed see. 
After the death of Paulinus in 389, his party, not choosing to 
acknowledge Flavian, elected one Evagrius. The dispute was not 
terminated till the year 398, when, upon the death of Evagrius, 
Theophilus of Alexandria had the address to prevail upon his party 
not to appoint any successor ■ and Chrysostom persuaded the 
Western bishops to admit Flavian to their communion. 

The death of Theodosius was of no advantage to the Sectaries, Condition of 
as Arcadius and Honorius rather increased than relaxed the severity sec& rmCiP 
of their father's laws against heresy. At the close of the fourth cen- 
tury, the different denominations of Arians, and the Macedonians, 
weakened by their own dissensions and by the want of able leaders, 



68 THE CHEISTIAN CHTTKCH IN THE EOTJETH CENTTJBY. 

a.d. 400. dwindled into comparative insignificance, and in many places 
conformed, outwardly at least, to the Catholic Church. The 
Manichaeans, though proscribed and declared infamous, were still 
numerous, and, to the best of their power, evaded the rigorous 
laws directed against them, by dissembling their opinions, and 
disguising themselves under a variety of appellations. The stead- 
fastness with which the Novatians adhered to the Nicene faith 
during the Arian persecution, procured them a degree of indul- 
gence scarcely experienced by any other sect ; and their Church at 
Constantinople, under the direction of Sisinnius, an able and ac- 
complished prelate, is described as being in a flourishing condition 
in the time of Arcadius. The numbers and the factious spirit of 
the African Donatists, rendered them exceedingly troublesome both 
to the civil and ecclesiastical power. The rise and progress of this 
sect, and the various synods which were assembled in order to re- 
press them, are treated of in another chapter. 1 

i See c. iv. 



( 69 ) 



CHAPTER III. 

ECCLESIASTICAL WRITERS OF THE FOURTH CENTURY. 

SECTION I. — INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 

The Christian writers of the fourth century are much more nu- a.d. 300- 
merous than those of the second and third; and their works are, 400. 
generally speaking, more voluminous and of a more elaborate 
nature. We deem it unnecessary to dilate much on their general 
character as authors, since the greater part of the remarks already 
made on the merits and defects of then" predecessors are no less 
applicable to them. In learning, eloquence, and the graces of 
composition, many of them equalled, or perhaps even excelled, their 
most eminent heathen contemporaries : but these excellences are 
greatly obscured by their want of method and precision; their 
frequent substitution of declamation for argument ; and, most of 
all, by their willingness to adopt or connive at the growing super- 
stitions of the age, and to adulterate the purity and simplicity of 
the gospel with human inventions. 

As it would greatly exceed the limits of a work like this to fur- 
nish regular biographical accounts of all the theological writers of 
this century, and to enter into a detailed examination of their 
voluminous productions, we shall omit those of whom no writings, 
or only a few inconsiderable fragments, have been preserved, and 
we shall compress our remarks upon the others into as brief a 
space as possible. Instead of making two distinct classes of the 
Greek and Latin authors, we shall henceforth arrange them all 
according to the strict chronological order, as nearly as it can be 
ascertained. 



Greek Writers. 



ElTSEBIUS. 

Athanasius. 

Cyril of Jerusalem. 

Epiphanius. 

Basil. 

Gregory Nazianzen. 

Gregory of ISTyssa. 

Macarius. 



Syriac Writer* 
Ephrem. 



Latin Writers. 



Arnobius. 

Lactantius. 

commodianus. 

juvencus. 

Julius Firmicus Maternus. 

Hilary. 

Lucifer. 

Phcebadius. 

Yictorinus. 

Optatus. 

Pacian. 

Ambrose. 

Hilary. 

Damasus. 

Philastrius. 



70 



ECCLESIASTICAL TYEITEBS OE THE EOUETH CEXTDET. 



A.D. 330. 



1 Adversus 
Gentes.' 



SECTION H. — BIOGRAPHICAL AND LITERARY NOTICES OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL 
WRITERS OF THE FOURTH CENTURY. 

ARXOBITJS. 

CIRCTTER A.D. 303. 

Arnobius was a native of Africa. The date of bis birth and tbat 
of bis deatb are equally unknown. Little, indeed, can be ascer- 
tained respecting bis personal history, except tbat be was origi- 
nally educated in the principles of heathenism, and that he taught 
rhetoric at Sicca Venerea, a city of Xurnidia. Being convinced of 
the falsehood and folly of paganism, and of the truth of Christ- 
ianity, he composed his work, c Adversus Gentes,' while yet a cate- 
chumen, chiefly, as St. Jerome 1 informs us, with the view of satis- 
fying his spiritual instructors of the sincerity of his conversion. 
This work consists of seven books. It is of a polemical character 
throughout, being a direct attack on the whole system of heathen- 
ism. After refuting the popular calumnies against Christianity, 
and vindicating the character of our Saviour and some of the prin- 
cipal doctrines of the gospel, he exposes, at considerable length, 
and with all the acrimony of a new convert, the absurdities of 
polytheism, and the irrational nature of the religious services of 
the pagans. As might be expected of a catechumen, he shows 
himself only moderately acquainted with the genuine doctrines of 
the gospel ; and is, throughout his treatise, much more successful 
in attacking the system which he had renounced than in pleading 
the cause of that which he had recently embraced. His style is 
of a declamatory cast, somewhat harsh, and occasionally disfigured 
by African barbarism and an affectation of antiquated words. It 
is, however, animated, nervous, and forcible : and the whole work 
plainly shows that the author possessed a vigorous and compre- 
hensive mind, and that he was a person of considerable research 
and information. 

The early editions of Arnobius were printed from faulty manu- 
scripts, and are consequently very incorrect. The Plantin edition, 
printed at Antwerp in 1582, is much superior to all preceding ones, 
and the editor (Canter) has appended a number of useful notes. 
A good variorum edition was published at Leyden, in 1652, by Le 
Maire, under the superintendence of Thysius, and reprinted in 
1657. A copious analysis of the work, together with many judi- 
cious remarks on its merits and defects, is inserted in Le Xourry's 
' Apparatus ad Bibliothecam Maxim am Patrum,' torn. ii. dissertat. 
ii. p. 257, et seq. Consult, also, Tillemont, ' Memoires Eccles.' 
vol. iv. art. ' Arnobe ;' Dupin, ' Bibliotb, 5 vol. i. cent. hi. ; and 
Fabricius, ' Bibl. Lat.' lib. iv. c. hi. p. 728. 
Commentary There is a short commentary on the Psalms bearing the name 

on tne J 

rsaims. of Arnobius, which is evidently a production of the fifth or sixth 
century. 

1 Hieron. Ckron. ad an. 327. 



Style. 



Editions. 



LACTAXTIUS. 71 

LACTANTTUS. 

a.d. 303-320. 

Lucius Caelius Firmianus Lactantius was, it is said, a native of a.d. 313. 
Italy, but the exact place of his birth is unknown. He studied 
under Arnobius, at Sicca Venerea, where his talents displayed 
themselves to so much advantage that he was invited to open a 
school of rhetoric at Nicoinedia, in Bithynia, which, in the time of 
Diocletian, was one of the most flourishing cities of the empire. 
Not meeting with the success which he expected, he commenced 
author by profession, and during Diocletian's persecution laudably 
exerted his talents in behalf of his fellow-Christians, in vindication 
of whom he wrote several spirited treatises. Upon the accession 
of Constantine, he went into Gaul, and received the honourable 
appointment of tutor to Crispus, Constan tine's eldest son. Not- 
withstanding his fame as an author, and his credit with the em- 
peror, Eusebius and Jerome assure us that he was so poor as fre- 
quently to want the common necessaries of life. 1 He died at an 
advanced age, probably a short time before the Nicene Council. 

The most considerable work of Lactantius is the treatise c De 'DeDMms 
Divinis Institutionibus,' which professes to be a complete exposi- bus? ,ltUtl ° m " 
tion of the errors of heathenism, and of the truth and excellence 
of Christianity. It is divided into seven books, the first two of 
which are entitled, ' De Falsa Eeligione,' and ' De Origine Erroris.' 
In these he undertakes to demonstrate the unity of the Godhead, 
to explode the fabulous deities of the heathens, and to expose the 
absurdity of the idolatrous worship paid to them by their deluded 
votaries. In the third book, 'De Falsa Sapientia,' he attacks the 
whole system of pagan philosophy as vain and futile ; and from 
his demonstration of its utter worthlessness concludes that the 
knowledge and worship of God is the only true wisdom. In the 
fourth book, ' De "Vera Sapientia,' he delivers a succinct account 
of the principal doctrines of the gospel, occasionally vindicating 
them from the objections of the heathens. The chief object of the 
fifth book, ' De Justitia,' is to claim a toleration for the professors 
of Christianity, and to show the cruelty and injustice of the seve- 
rities inflicted on them by their persecutors. In the sixth book, 
- De Yero Cultu Dei,' he shows that the true worship of God con- 
sists in the inward purity and devout dispositions of the heart, and 
in the active discharge of moral duties, dilating at considerable 
length on the necessity and excellence of the latter. The last 
book, c De Vita Beata,' is a discourse on the immortality of the 
soul, the reality and nature of a future state, and the certainty and 
awfulness of the last judgment. The whole concludes with an 
eloquent and solemn exhortation to mankind to be converted, and 

1 Euseb. Cliron. An. 318. Hieron. Ep. ad Paulinum, p. 101. 



72 ECCLESIASTICAL WEITEKS OP THE EOI7ETH CENTURY. 

a.d. 314, embrace the salvation offered by the gospel while they have the 
opportunity. The epitome of this work, executed by Lactantius 
himself, is lost, with the exception of the last three books. 

other Works. We have, moreover, a short treatise by Lactantius, ' De Ira Dei;' 
and another, i De Opificio Hominis,' in which he undertakes to 
prove the reality of a Divine providence by a review of the bodily 
powers and mental faculties of man, the most excellent of God's 
works. The small work, ' De Mortibus Persecutorum,' though 
known to have existed in the time of Jerome, was long supposed 
to be lost, till it was rescued from oblivion by Baluze, who pub- 
lished it from an ancient manuscript in the second volume of his 
' Miscellanea.' It is written with spirit and elegance, and is of 
value, from containing several historical facts not to be met with 
elsewhere. But the general tone of it is too acrimonious and un- 
charitable, and the author falls into the same error of which the 
Christians of that period justly accused their pagan adversaries — 
of being too ready to interpret every signal calamity as a token of 
Divine vengeance on the sufferers. 

The following works of this author are no longer extant : — 
' Symposium' (a juvenile production) ; f Olot77o%r/,ov, a poem in which 
he described his journey from Africa to Mcomedia ; ' Ad Asclepia- 
dem,' Kb. ii. ; eight books of epistles. 3 

style. j n classical elegance of style Lactantius far excels all his con- 

temporaries. Indeed it may be doubted whether he does not sur- 
pass every Latin prose writer since the time of Augustus. His 
language is at once clear, copious, flowing, and energetic ; and of 
all imitators of Cicero he is, undoubtedly, the most successful. 
With respect to his matter, his ethics are generally sufficiently 
pure and rational, but his theology is too often erroneous and un- 
sound. Like his master Arnobius, he was less versed in the doc- 
trines of the gospel than in the religion and philosophy of the 
heathens, whose errors and superstitions he attacked while he was 
as yet but imperfectly emancipated from them. Hence he is to 
be read with some degree of caution, and must be regarded as a 
very indifferent authority on religious subjects, particularly on 

Editions. points of dogmatic theology. Many editions of Lactantius have 
been printed. The Geneva edition of 1613 and the Leyden one 
of 1660 are esteemed for their accuracy. They want, however, 
the treatise ' De Mortibus Persecutorum, as do all editions pub- 
lished before the end of the seventeenth century. This defect is 
supplied in the Oxford edition of 1684, and in all subsequent to it. 
Vide Tillemont, ' Mem. Eccles.' torn. vi. art. c Lactance ;' Dupin, 
'Biblioth. Cent.' iii. ; Cave, 'Hist. Lit.' vol. i. sec. 4, p. 161, et 
seq. ; Nourry, ' Apparat.' torn. ii. 'Dissert. 3, c. 1, art. 2. 

1 There are a few poems still extant bearing the name of Lactantius, but undoubt- 
edly spurious. 



COMMCXDIAETIS. 73 

COMMODIANUS. 

DATE UNCERTAIN. 

The country and the personal history of Commodianus are equally a.d. 326. 
unknown ; nor is it, perhaps, certain that he ought to be classed 
among the ecclesiastical writers of the fourth century. 1 From 
the peculiarities of his diction it is conjectured that he was a native 
of Africa ; and he represents himself as a convert from paganism 
to Christianity. His only work, entitled ' Instructionum Opus 'instmc- 
adversus Paganos,' is one of the most singular monuments of anti- tl0nes -' 
quity. It is divided into eighty strophes or sections, each of 
which is an acrostic, the initial letters of the lines being so ar- 
ranged as to compose the title or subject of the section. It is, 
strictly speaking, neither verse nor prose. A sort of rhythmical 
modulation is observed ; and the lines have generally something 
approaching to the cadence of the hexameter, but without the 
smallest regard being paid to the laws of prosody or metre. We 
have now no means of ascertaining whether this uncouth versifi- 
cation, if it deserves the name, was invented by Commodianus, 
or whether he imitated the poetry of some barbarous nation, 
constructed, like that of most modern languages, according to 
certain rules of rhythm and accent, without any regard to syllabic 
quantity. 

The c Instructions' of Commodianus are partly of a polemical and 
partly of a didactic nature. In the first division of the work he 
demonstrates the absurdity of paganism, and the superior purity 
and excellence of Christianity. In the second part he shows the 
Jews that the Law was only a shadow of better things to come, 
and that it is superseded by the Gospel. The third part consists 
of a series of moral and religious instructions, addressed to pro- 
fessors of Christianity, strongly enforcing the necessity of strict 
holiness of life, and the duty of bearing all the calamities inflicted 
on them by their pagan persecutors with fortitude rather than 
renounce the faith. 

The style of Commodianus is harsh, his diction barbarous and 
impure, nor does his work display much originality or elevation of 
thought. His theology is infected with the prevalent errors of 
the period in which he wrote ; and his morality, though pure, is 
of a rigorous and ascetic cast. Upon the whole, he appears to 
have been a man of excellent intentions, and by no means destitute 
of information, but of little genius, of still less taste, and of more 
zeal than judgment. They who can overlook these defects will, 
however, find in his work a good deal of curious and valuable 

1 Rigaltius supposes him to have flourished about the year 326, on the ground of a 
fancied allusion to Pope Sylvester. Cave and Dodwell think that he flourished in the 
latter part of the third century, being contemporary, or nearly so, with Cyprian. This 
latter opinion seems most probable, and best supported by internal evidence. 



74 ECCLESIASTICAL WKITERS OE THE EOTTRTH CENTTJET. 

a.d. 364. information respecting the manners and opinions of the age in 
which he flourished. 

Editions. This work was long unknown to the moderns, except through 

the slight mention made of the author by G-ennadius. 1 It was 
first published by Pigault, from a manuscript in the possession of 
Sirmond (Toul. 1650, in 4to), afterwards, together with Cyprian, 
Paris, 1666, and separately, by Heischius, Wittenberg, 1705. This 
last edition contains the notes of Bigault, and Dodwell's ' Disser- 
tation on the Age of Commodianus.' 

Vide Cave, 'Hist. Lit.' vol. i. p. 136—138; Fabricius, <Bibl. 
Med. et Inf. Lat.' lib. iii. p. 1139. 

EUSEBIUS OF OESAREA. 

CIRCITER A.D. 264 TO CTRCITER A.D. 838. 

Eusebius was a native of Palestine, most probably of Caesarea. 
The precise date of his birth is unknown ; but, from his describing 
various transactions of the reign of Grallienus as having occurred 
in his time, it is supposed to have taken place about a.d. 264. 
Nothing is known of his parentage, and very little of his early 
life. It is thought, but without sufficient evidence, that he studied 
at Antioch, under a priest named Dorotheus, and that he was 
ordained priest by Agapius, bishop of Csesarea. Early in the fourth 
century he became intimately attached to Pamphilus of Csesarea, 
whose name he adopted, and in whose company he indefatigably 
prosecuted his studies in sacred and profane literature. During 
the persecution under Gralerius and Maximin, Pamphilus was 
thrown into prison, where Eusebius courageously continued to 
visit him, and to pay him every friendly attention in his power, 
until the time of his martyrdom. He himself did not escape per- 
secution, being imprisoned, as it is commonly supposed, in Egypt : 
at least we know that Potamon, an Egyptian bishop, was his com- 
panion in captivity. Some time after his release, he was appointed 
to succeed Agapius in the see of Csesarea, which he governed till 
his death. After taking an active and prominent part in the 
affairs of the Christian Church, especially in the Arian controversy, 
he finished his laborious and useful career about the year 338. 

In extent and variety of learning Eusebius far excelled all his 
Christian contemporaries ; and his talents as a writer, a theologian, 
and a man of business, were of a very high order. Though his 
influence with the Emperor Constantine was almost unbounded, he 
never availed himself of it to enrich or aggrandize himself; and he 
gave a signal proof of disinterestedness, by refusing to accept the 
Patriarchate of Antioch, when vacant by the deposition of Eusta- 
thius. The moderation and forbearance which he showed towards 
Arius and his followers caused his orthodoxy to be suspected ; and 

1 De Scriptor. Eccles. c. 15. 



EUSEBIUS OF C^SAEEA. 75 

though the charge of Arianism, so confidently made against him a.d. 338. 
both by ancient and modern writers, 1 has never been substantiated, 
it must be confessed that some expressions in his works, and his 
conduct towards the latter end of his life, gave some sort of coun- 
tenance to it. 

Of the multifarious writings of Eusebius, some have come down 
to us in a mutilated state ; others are only known to us through 
the medium of Latin translations, and by far the greater number 
have entirely perished. Those, however, which we have the good 
fortune to possess are highly creditable monuments of his talents 
and industry. We have already 2 treated copiously of the merits 'Histona 
and defects of the ' Ecclesiastical History,' which may be regarded Sca!' 6Sias " 
as his principal work. Next to this may be placed the ' Preepara- 'Pneparatio 
tio Evangelica,' the avowed object of which, as the title implies, e^s 8110 ^ 
is to dispose men's minds to think favourably of Christianity. 
This work, which is perhaps the ablest, the most methodical, and 
the best argued treatise on natural and revealed religion of which 
Christian antiquity can boast, is divided into fifteen books, and is 
addressed to one Theodoras, who, it is supposed, was bishop of 
Laodicea. The leading propositions which the author undertakes 
to establish are, that paganism is a pernicious s} 7 stem, totally 
repugnant to right reason ; and that Christianity is not only 
agreeable to reason, but suitable to the wants and conducive to 
the happiness of mankind. The l Demonstrate Evangelica' is an 'Demor^tra- 
elaborate treatise on the direct and positive evidences of Christ- ii? a / va31ge ~ 
ianity. It consisted originally of twenty books, the last ten of 
which are unfortunately lost. In those which are still extant 
Eusebius chiefly combats the prejudices of the Jews, to whom he 
shows at great length, from the evidence of their own Scriptures, 
that Christ must be the true Messiah. This latter work, though 
written with considerable ability, is inferior to the ' Prseparatio' in 
originality of matter and variety and copiousness of learning. In 
the five books ' Against Marcellus of Ancyra,' Eusebius appears to 'Adyersns 
have departed a little from his usual temperance and moderation. Mareellum - 
His object is to convict his opponent of Sabellianism ; in labouring 
to effect which, he affords some ground for questioning his own 
orthodoxy, as, though he explicitly asserts the divinity of the Son, 
he appears to deny his perfect equality with the Father. The 
treatise c Against Hierocles ' is a short, but spirited production, in 
which Eusebius effectually chastises the audacity of that philoso- 
pher in presuming to compare the life and miracles of Apollonius 
of Tyana with those of Christ. His life of Constantine, in four 

^ x Particularly by Jerome, Baronius, and Le Clerc. Those who are desirous of inves- 
tigating the matter more fully may consult Le Clerc's Epistolas Ecclesiast. et Crit. 
ep. 2, and Cave's Epistola Apologetica, the latter of which is a formal and elaborate 
vindication of Eusebius from the accusations of Le Clerc. 

2 Jeremie's History of the Christian Church in the Second and Third Centuries, 
p. 1. 



'6 



ECCLESIASTICAL WBITEES OE THE FOUETH CENTURY, 



A.D. 338. 



' Chronolo- 
gic' 



' De Locis 
Hebraicis.' 

' Commen- 
taria in 
Psalmos et 
Esaiam.' 

' Apologia 
pro Origine. 



Style. 



Editions. 



books, is written in a more florid and elaborate style than the 
generality of bis compositions ; and may be regarded more as a 
panegyric than an impartial narrative of facts. This, together 
with an ' Oration' in praise of the same Emperor, and a concise 
account of the c Martyrs of Palestine,' is usually appended to his 
' Ecclesiastical History.' The original text of his ; Chronology,' 
a work of immense research and erudition, is unfortunately lost. 1 
A Latin version of the second part of it is still extant, but greatly 
altered and interpolated by the translator, Jerome, and by subse- 
quent compilers. His treatise 'De Locis Hebraicis' is a short 
topographical index of the places mentioned in Scripture. His 
i Commentary on the Psalms,' and on c Isaiah,' which were long 
supposed to be lost, were published, though in a defective state, by 
Montfaucon in his ' Collectio Nova Grraecorum Patrum,' torn. i. 
and ii. Paris, 1706. The ' Apology for Origen,' written in con- 
junction with his friend Pamphilus, consisted originally of six 
books. The Latin version of the first book by Ruffinus is still 
extant ; but there is reason to believe that the translator, accord- 
ing to his usual practice, has taken great liberties with his original. 
For an account of the works of Eusebius which are entirely lost, 
the titles of which alone would occupy a considerable space, the 
reader is referred to Cave, Tillemont, and Dupin. His great work 
' Against Porphyry' is, perhaps, the one which we have most cause 
to regret. It would be interesting to see the learning of that for- 
midable opponent of Christianity encountered by the equal or supe- 
rior learning and talent of Eusebius. 

It is evident that this illustrious and learned writer never studied 
the graces of composition, nor took much pains in polishing and 
revising his works. His style is harsh, dry, and repulsive, and his 
periods are embarrassed and obscure. These defects are, however, 
amply compensated by his good sense, and the general interest of 
his subjects, and excellence of his matter. 

A complete edition of the works of Eusebius, similar to those 
editions of the other Greek and Latin Fathers published by the 
Benedictines of St. Maur, is still a desideratum in literature. The 
best editions of the 'Ecclesiastical History' are that of Valesius, 
including also the histories of Socrates, Sozomenes, &c., Paris, 
1659, 3 vols, folio, and that of Heading, Cambridge, 1720, 3 vols, 
folio, which is little more than a reprint of the former, with a few 
additional notes. The ' Praeparatio' and ' Demonstratio Evange- 
lica' 2 were published by Robert Stephens, Paris, 1544, 1545, folio, 

1 An Armenian version of Eusebius's Chronicle has been recently published by 
Aucher, Venice, 1818. If it may be relied on as a faithful representation of the ori- 
ginal (and there seems no reason for doubting that it is substantially so), it is un- 
doubtedly an important accession to literature. 

2 The beginning of the 1st book of the Demonstratio, and the conclusion of the 
10th, which are wanting in both those editions, were first published byFabriciuSj De 
Verit. Christ. Relig. p. i. 



ATHA1S T ASIUS. 77 

and by Vigerus, Paris, 1628, 2 vols, folio. The latter edition con- a.d. 348. 
tains also the treatises ' Against Hierocles,' and 'Marcellus of 
Ancyra.' The book ' De Locis Hebraicis ' was published by Bon- 
frerius, Paris, 1631. Jerome's version of the ' Chronicle' has been 
frequently printed. The best edition is that contained in Scali- 
ger's ' Thesaurus Temporum,' Amsterdam, 1658, who published at 
the same time all the fragments of the original Greek which could 
be recovered. 

Vide Cave, 'Hist. Lit. 3 vol. i. pp. 175-183; Dupin, 'Biblioth.' 
vol. ii. 'Cent.' iv. pp. 1-11; Tillemont, 'Mem. Eccles.' torn. ii. 
pp. 39-76. 

ATHANASIUS. 

DIED CIRCITER A.D. 371. 

The life and character of this illustrious prelate belong rather to 
the entire ecclesiastical history of the period in which he flou- 
rished than to a mere literary notice. He was born at Alexandria 
towards the close of the third century. At an early age his talents 
and virtues attracted the notice of Alexander, bishop of that im- 
portant see, who appointed him his secretary. It is said that he 
accompanied Alexander to the Nicene Council, and that the zeal 
and ability which he there manifested against the Arians laid the 
foundation of the rancour and animosity with which that sect 
afterwards pursued him. In the year 326 he was chosen by the 
unanimous suffrage of the Catholics to succeed his patron, to the 
great mortification of the Arians, who, from that time, used every 
exertion to compass his disgrace and downfall. After various un- 
successful attempts to prejudice the Emperor Constantine against 
him, they contrived, by laying a number of fictitious crimes to his 
charge, to obtain his deposition by the Council of Tyre, a.d. 335, 
and the year following Constantine was prevailed upon to banish 
him into Gaul. Soon after the death of that emperor he was re- 
called by Constantine the younger ; but the intrigues of his rest- 
less adversaries again prevailing, he was a second time deposed by 
the Synod of Antioch, a.d. 341, and one Gregory, a mere creature 
of the Arian faction, appointed in his stead. On this occasion 
Athanasius took refuge at Rome, where his cause was warmly 
espoused by Pope Julius and the majority of the Western bishops, 
who used all their influence to obtain his restoration, but without 
success. Even the decision of the Council of Sardica in his favour 
was disregarded by the adverse faction. The emperors were, how- 
ever, favourably disposed towards him ; and on the death of 
Gregory, a.d. 348, Constantius restored him to his archbishopric, 
which he governed peaceably for several years. This calm was but 
the precursor of a more violent storm. A powerful party was 
formed, which, being openly supported by the imperial officers, 
forcibly ejected him, a.d. 356, and introduced one George, a Cappa- 



78 



ECCLESIASTICAL WKITEES OE THE EOUETH CEXTTJEY. 



a.d. 370. docian of low birth and disreputable character, as his successor. 
These tumultuous and irregular proceedings received the sanction of 
Constantius, who had entirely surrendered himself to the guidance 
of the Arians, and was then exerting himself to the utmost to depress, 
and if possible to extirpate Catholicism. Athanasius was compelled 
to seek safety from the violence of his enemies in the deserts of the 
Thebaid, where he remained concealed till the death of Constantius. 
He was once more exiled during the reign of Julian ; after whose 
death, with the exception of some slight molestation under Yalens, 
he was allowed to enjoy his bishopric peaceably till the end of his 
days. According to Socrates, his death took place in the year 371 : 
other authorities place it two years later. 

Among all those members of the Church who distinguished 
themselves during this eventful period, no one acted a more 
honourably conspicuous part than Athanasius. His talents marked 
him out as the champion of orthodoxy ; and he sustained that cha- 
racter through evil and good report, with a zeal, integrity, con- 
sistency, and firmness, which proved that he was actuated by no 
unworthy or selfish motive, and which, while they excited the 
hatred of his enemies, commanded also their admiration. Perhaps 
it is not too much to say, that his writings and personal exertions 
did as much for the Trinitarian cause in the East, at a time when 
it seemed to be struggling for its verv existence, as those of Luther 
did afterwards for the doctrines of the Reformation in Europe. 

The writings of Athanasius are voluminous, and almost exclu- 
sively of a polemical nature. The i Oratio adversus Grentes,' and 
the treatise ' De Incarnatione,' supposed to be his earliest produc- 
tions, are chiefly directed against the superstition of the Gentiles. 
In nearly all the others he defends the doctrine of the Trinity, or 
refutes the errors of the Arians. Most of his productions are in 
the form of ' Orations ' or ' Epistles ;' and, though generally written 
on the spur of the moment, and under most unfavourable circum- 
stances, they are calculated to give the reader a high opinion of 
the skill and talents of the author. The ' Apology 7 addressed to 
the Emperor Constantius, which is an eloquent and spirited vin- 
dication of his own conduct against the calumnies of his aclver- 
saries, may be regarded as his most finished composition. The 'Life 
of St. Antony,' the famous Egyptian solitary, is the production 
which reflects the least credit on his taste and judgment. Indeed 
several critics, both Protestant and Roman Catholic, suspect that 
it has been interpolated by some later author. 

Athanasius, though not to be compared to Eusebius in depth 
and variety of learning, greatly excels him in the graces of com- 
position. His style is elegant, perspicuous, and flowing ; eloquent 
and forcible, and at the same time free from tumour and affecta- 
tion. As a controversialist he was eminently calculated to excel ; 
his manner is insinuating and persuasive, and his arguments are 



1 Adversus 
Gentes.' 
' De Incar- 
natione.' 



'Epistolce.' 
'Orationes.' 



'Apologia.' 



4 Vita S. 
Antonii.' 



Style. 



JUYENCUS. 79 

commonly well chosen, judiciously arranged;,, and happily and fore- A.D. 363. 
ibly expressed. Sometimes his reasonings are more plausible than 
solid, and not unfrequently he lays a good deal of stress on inter- 
pretations of Scripture which a little more skill in biblical criticism 
would have shown him to be utterly untenable. The occasional 
vehemence of his invective may be pardoned, when we consider 
that it is directed against persons who had not scrupled to employ 
every sort of fraud and violence to effect his ruin. 

The early editions of Athanasius are both defective and inaccurate. Editions, 
Indeed all published in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries are 
merely Latin versions of a few of his principal treatises. The Greek 
text was first printed by Commelinus, Heidelberg, 1601, 2 vols, 
folio. It was published again at Paris, 1627, 2 vols, folio, and at 
Cologne, 1686, folio. The only critical edition is the Benedictine, 
Paris, 1698, 3 vols, folio, Gr. Lat. The first two volumes contain 
the genuine works of Athanasius. Those which are regarded as 
doubtful or spurious are inserted in the third. The preface, appa- 
rently by the learned Montfaucon, contains a mass of valuable 
information respecting the life and writings of Athanasius. 

Tide Cave, ' Hist. Lit.' vol. i. pp. 189-198 ; Dupin, < Biblioth. 
Cent.' iv. pp. 28-34. Tillemont, ' Memoires,' torn. viii. art. ' Atha- 
nase,' and ' Histoire des Ariens, passim.' 

JUVENCUS. 

UNDER COXSTANTINE. 

Caius Yectius Aquilinus Juvencus was a Spaniard of noble birth, 
and, as St. Jerome informs us, a presbyter. This is all that we 
know of his personal history. He flourished in the time of Con- 
stantine, and wrote a number of poems, all of which are lost, 
except his 'Historia Evangelica.' This is an account of our 'Historia 
Saviour's life and actions, in four books. It is written in hexame- EYaI1 s elica • , 
ters, and closely adheres to the narrative of the evangelists. The 
flow of his verse is not inharmonious, but, as might be expected style. 
from the age in which he lived, his diction is occasionally inelegant 
and unclassical, nor does he display much poetical genius or eleva- 
tion of sentiment. He is, however, entitled to the credit of having 
embodied the facts related by the four evangelists in one clear, 
faithful, and not unpleasing narrative. 

This poem has been frequently printed. The principal editions Editions, 
are those of Basle, 1541, 1564; Lyons, 1588; Paris, 1543, 1575, 
1581, 1624 ; Frankfort, 1710. It is also to be found in the collec- 
tions of the Christian poets published by Fabrieius and Aldus, and 
in most editions of the 'Bibliotheca Patrum.' 

Yide Cave, < Histor. Lit.' vol. i. p. 200 ; Dupin, < Biblioth. Cent.' 
iv. pp. 20, 21 ; Hieron. ' de Script. Ecclesiast.' c. 84 ; and ' Chronic, 
ad ann.' 330. 



80 



ECCLESIASTICAL WBITEES OP THE EOTJETH CEXTUEY. 



JULIUS FIRMICUS MATERNUS. 



UNDER CONSTATS AND CONSTANTIUS. 



4 De Errore 
profanarum 
Keligionum 



Style. 



a.d. 360. Though this writer is supposed to have been a person of rank 
and consideration, he is not mentioned by any of the ancients, and 
is only known as the author of a book against paganism, entitled 
'De Errore profanarum Keligionum.' This work, which is un- 
doubtedly a genuine production of the fourth century, is addressed to 
Constans and Constantius, the sons and successors of Constantine. 
It is written with some degree of force and elegance, and a good 
deal of learned research is displayed in the author's historical deve- 
lopment of the origin of the different heathen systems. His rea- 
sonings are, however, occasionally weak and superficial, and his zeal 
against idolatry frequently amounts to intolerance. 

This treatise was first printed at Venice, 1499 ; afterwards at 
Basle, 1533 ; Strasburg, 1562 ; Paris, 1575, 1589, 1610 ; Leyden, 
1652 ; also in the Paris edition of Cyprian, 1666, and the ' Biblio- 
theca Patrum.' 

A treatise on astronomy, bearing the name of Julius Firmicus 
Maternus, is extant. It is supposed by several critics to have been 
written by the same author before his conversion to Christianity. 

Vide Cave, 'Hist. Lit. 5 vol. i. p. 204; Dupin, 'Biblioth.' vol. i. 
* Cent.' iii. pp. 170, 171 ; Baronii, ' Annales ad ami. 5 337. 



Editions. 



Treatise on 
Astronomy, 



CYKILLUS OF JERUSALEM. 

DIED A.D 386* 

Cyril was probably a native of Jerusalem, or of its immediate 
ordination, vicinity. He was ordained deacon by Macarius, bishop of Jeru- 
salem, and priest by his successor Maximus, during whose episco- 
pacy he held the office of catechist, or theological lecturer. On 
the death of Maximus he was appointed to the vacant see, chiefly 
through the influence of Acacius, bishop of Csesarea. Not long 
after, however, a violent dissension broke out between these two 
prelates, occasioned by Cyril's attempting to exercise an inde- 
pendent jurisdiction within his diocese of Jerusalem. This en- 
croachment on the prerogatives of the Metropolitan Church of 
Cassarea was warmly resented by Acacius, who contrived, soon 
Deposition, after, to procure the deposition of Cyril by a synod of the bishops 
of Palestine. He appealed from their sentence to the Emperor 
Constantius, and the contest was carried on for many years with 
various success. The Synod of Seleucia gave a decree in Cyril's 
favour ; but Acacius had sufficient interest to obtain his condem- 
nation and deposition once more by a council assembled at Con- 
stantinople. He returned to Jerusalem upon the accession of 
Julian, but he was not formally restored to his see till the reign 
of Theodosius, when his cause was espoused by the Second General 



CYEILLUS — HILARIUS. 81 

Council, and the sentence of deposition reversed. After this, he a.d. 386. 
retained undisturbed possession of his dignity till the time of his 
death, which took place a.d. 386. 

Cyril appears to have been a man of moderate abilities, who 
acquired a certain degree of notoriety by happening to make him- 
self obnoxious to a prelate at the head of a numerous party. His 
early connection with Acacius, and the intercourse which he 
held, with the semi-Arian bishops at the Council of Seleucia, 
caused his orthodoxy to be suspected ; in fact, Jerome and others 
accuse him of Arianism in direct terms. No traces, however, of 
this heresy appear in his writings ; and it is not unlikely that 
his greatest crime, in Jerome's eyes, consisted in espousing the 
cause of Meletius of Antioch, in opposition to Damasus and the 
Western bishops. 

Twenty-three of Cyril's Catechetical Discourses are still extant. Catechetical 

. Discourse^ 

They are divided into two classes ; the first eighteen, addressed to 
the competentes, or catechumens deemed worthy of baptism, are 
brief expositions of the general doctrines of Christianity ; the re- 
maining five, addressed to persons already baptised, and distin- 
guished by the name of ' Mystagogical Lectures,' are chiefly 
devoted to an explanation of the nature of the sacraments. They style. 
are written throughout in a plain, familiar, and unadorned style, 
and, generally speaking, are well calculated to answer the purpose 
for which they were intended. It is, however, easy to perceive 
that a superstitious spirit, and a disposition to find mysteries 
where none were intended by the sacred writers, had already made 
great progress in the Christian Church. 

There is also extant an ' Epistle to Constantius ' respecting an other Works 
apparition of a luminous cross at Jerusalem. An c Oration on the 
Presentation of our Lord,' and an ' Epistle to St. Augustine,' have 
been published under his name, but they are evidently spurious. 

The principal editions of Cyril are those of Petavius, Paris, Editions. 
1622, folio> and again Paris, 1631, folio, along with Synesius; Mil- 
ler, Oxford, 1703, folio ; and the Benedictine edition superintended 
by Touttee, Paris, 1720, folio. 

Yide Cave, 'Hist. Lit.' vol. i. pp. 211-213 ; Dupin, < Biblioth. 
Cent.' iv. pn. 107-115 ; Tillemont, ' Mem. Eccles.' torn. viii. art. 
< S. Cyrille/ 

HILARIUS. 

DIED A.D. 367. 

Hilary was born at Poitiers early in the fourth century, and was 
educated in the principles of heathenism. His own reflections first 
made him dissatisfied with the inconsistency and absurdity of that 
system ; and his inquiries after truth, together with a diligent 
perusal of the Scriptures, induced him to become a Christian. 
After his elevation to the bishopric of Poitiers, which is supposed 

a 



82 ECCLESIASTICAL WEITEES OF THE EOTJETH CENTTJEY. 

a.d. 367, to have taken place about a.d. 354, he quickly began to distin- 
guish himself by his zeal in the discharge of his pastoral duties, 
and also by his activity in opposing the progress of Arianism, 
His warmth in defending Athanasius at the Synod of Beziers 
against his persecutors Ursacius and Valens, excited the displea- 
sure of the Emperor Constantius, who banished him into Phrygia, 
Nevertheless he continued to uphold the Catholic cause, both by 
his writings and his personal influence. His character and con- 
duct appear to have gained the respect of the public authorities, 
as he met with more indulgent treatment than the generality of 
his brethren. He was permitted to attend the Synod of Seleucia, 
and was also allowed to accompany the deputies of the Council to 
the Imperial Court. Here, according to Sulpicius Severus, he pre- 
sented several memorials to Constantius on behalf of the oppressed 
Catholic Church, and even ventured to challenge the Arians to a 
public disputation. The leaders of that sect declined the proposal ; 
and, fearful of the ascendency which Hilary's zeal and talents 
might gain over the mind of the Emperor, they contrived that he 
should be sent back to Gaul. The death of Constantius, which 
happened shortly after Hilary's return to his diocese, leaving him 
at liberty to act with vigour, he exerted himself with diligence and 
success in checking the further spread of Arianism, and in reorgan- 
izing the Catholic Church in Gaul and in the North of Italy. 
He assembled a number of Provincial Synods, in which the Acts 
of the Councils of Arimmum and Seleucia were disavowed and re- 
probated, and the principal Arian prelates condemned. The his- 
torians of that period, indeed, do not scruple to say, that the sup- 
pression of Arianism in Gaul was almost entirely the work of 
Hilary. He continued actively engaged in these and similar 
occupations till the time of his death, in the year 367. 

Works. The writings of Hilary are all controversial, except his Com- 

mentaries on the Psalms and on the Gospel of St. Matthew. They 
consist of a treatise c On the Trinity,' in twelve books ; three 
addresses to Constantius ; a book on Synods, addressed to the 
Western bishops when the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia 
were pending, and a tract against Auxentius, bishop of Milan. 
The two books of ' Fragments ' are a series of extracts from Hilary's 
' History of the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia,' which is no 
longer extant in a complete state. These Fragments furnish a 
number of facts and documents not to be found elsewhere, and 
throw considerable light on the Ecclesiastical History of that 
period. His ' Commentaries on the Psalms ' are chiefly borrowed 
from Origen, and are, consequently, a good deal infected with the 
spirit of allegory and mysticism. The ' Commentaries on St. 
Matthew' are of a more plain and practical nature, but they are 
neither wholly free from fanciful interpretations nor from erro- 
neous opinions. 



HILAEIUS— VTCTOKIlSrTJS. 83 

Hilary is not a writer of first-rate eminence, but he deserves a A. d. 370. 
respectable rank among tbose of the second class. His learning style, 
and talents were considerable, and his style, though not always 
pure or perspicuous, is spirited, eloquent, and forcible. He in- 
dulges too much in the turgid declamation characteristic of the 
Gallic School of Ehetoricians, but he uniformly writes in a tone of 
honest warmth and sincerity, like a person fully persuaded of the 
truth and importance of what he says. If he appears occasionally 
too violent and acrimonious, we must consider that he believed the 
vital interests of religion to be at stake, and that his adversaries 
did not use the power placed in their hands in such a manner as 
to be entitled to expect much forbearance from a man of Hilary's 
warm temperament. 

Many editions of Hilary's works were published during the Editions. 
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The best and only complete one 
is the Benedictine, Paris, 1693, principally superintended by Father 
Constant. It was reprinted at Verona, 1730, 2 vols, folio. 

Vide Cave, 'Hist. Lit.' vol. i. pp. 213-215 ; Dupin, 'Biblioth. 
Cent.' iv. pp. 64-79; Hieron. <De Scriptor, Eccies.' c. 100; Tille- 
mont, 'Meni. Eccies.' torn. vii. art. 'S. Hilaire.' 

YICTOKINUS. 

DIED CIRCITER A.D 370. 

Fabius Marius Yictorinus, an African by birth, was an eminent 
professor of rhetoric at Rome, during the reign of Constantius. He 
was a great admirer of Plato, many of whose writings he trans- 
lated into Latin . Being accidentally led to compare the doctrines 
of that philosopher with the Holy Scriptures, he was convinced of 
the superior excellence and truth of Christianity, and became a 
convert in his old age. He kept the change of his sentiments 
secret for a time, but at last, by the persuasion of his friend Sim r 
plicianus, he was induced to be baptized, and to make open profes- 
sion of his faith. In the year 362, when Julian published an 
edict forbidding the Christians to teach oratory, or any of the 
liberal sciences, Victorinus magnanimously chose rather to forego 
the emoluments of his profession, than to renounce or dissemble 
his principles. It is supposed that he died about a.d. 370. 

The only claim which Yictorinus has to be ranked among Eccle- works, 
siastical writers, rests on a few controversial tracts against the 
Arians and Manichaeans, and some poems on sacred subjects. 
None of these possess any great merit. His style is harsh, style, 
affected, and involved, and his fondness for the dialectical sub- 
tleties of the school in which he was brought up, gives an 
air of studied obscurity to everything that he says. It re- 
quires close and painful attention to comprehend his meaning, 
which is seldom of sufficient value to repay the reader for his 



84 ECCLESIASTICAL WEITEBS OE THE EOTJETH CEHTUBT. 

a.d. 371. trouble. His poetry is of a very ordinary description, inferior 
even to his prose. 

Editions. Several of the philosophical and grammatical works of Victori- 

ous are still extant : his theological tracts are inserted in the fourth 
volume of the c Bibliotheca Patrum.' He wrote ' Commentaries 
on some of St. Paul's Epistles,* which existed in manuscript in the 
fourteenth century. The disparaging terms in which Jerome 
speaks of them gives us no cause to regret that they have never 
been printed. 

Tide Cave, < Hist. Lit.' vol. i. pp. 228, 229 ; Dupin, ' Bibliotk. 
Cent.' iv. pp. 80, 81 ; Hieron. ' Be Scriptor. Eecies.* c. 101. 

LUCIFER. 

DIED CIRCITEK, A.D. 371. 

Lucifer was bishop of Cagliari in Sardinia, about the middle of 
the fourth century. Having distinguished himself by his zeal in 
the Trinitarian cause, he was deputed by Liberius, bishop of Rome, 
to attend the Synod of Milan. He there defended the person and 
cause of Athanasius with great zeal and vehemence, and received 
the usual reward of the champions of orthodoxy in those days, 
namely banishment into Asia. The harsh treatment which he 
Exile. experienced during his exile, together with the natural violence of 

his temper, drew from him several polemical tracts, still extant. 
They are chiefly directed against Constantius, and are written 
throughout with such virulence and want of decency, that we 
know not whether to wonder more at his audacity in addressing 
his sovereign in such a strain, or at the forbearance of the latter 
in not subjecting hirmto the penalties of treason. It appears that 
he was removed from Palestine into Upper Egypt, and the writers 
of that period speak of some other place of banishment which they 
do not specify. After the death of Constantius, he visited Antioch, 
and finding the rigid Catholics dissatisfied with the appointment 
of Meletius to that see on account of his supposed connection 
with the Arians, he took upon himself to ordain Paulinus, with 
the express view of setting Meletius aside. This hasty and ill- 
judged measure not only gave great offence to the more moderate 
Catholics, but caused a serious division between the Eastern and 
Western bishops, and finally led to Lucifer's own separation from 
the Church. Irritated by the disapprobation which his conduct 
excited, and also by a decree passed by the Synod of Alexandria 
re-admitting those bishops into the Church who had communicated 
with the Arians during the persecution, he returned to Sardinia, 
and during: the remainder of his life, obstinate! v refused to hold 
any intercourse with those who had ever shown any condescension 
or favour to the heretics. He thus became the head of a small 
and obscure sect of schismatics, who limited the true Church to 



LUCIFEE — PHCEBADIUS. 85 

their own narrow pale, and stigmatized the great body of the a.d. 392. 
Catholics as apostates from the faith. He died about the year 
371, and the sect of Lnciferians did not long survive him. 

Lucifer was one of those sincere, wrong-headed men, whose zeal style. 
and courage would be respectable were they tempered with a little 
more charity and judgment. As a writer, he is entitled to little 
praise. His compositions are destitute of argument, method, and 
elegance, and are remarkable only for their violence and acrimony. 
He is indeed chiefly memorable for the mischief and dissension 
which he caused in the Church. 

The works of Lucifer were first collected and published by John Editions. 
Du Tillet, bishop of Meaux, Paris, 1568, 8vo. They were after- 
wards inserted in the fourth volume of the ' Bibliotheca Patrum.' 

Yide Cave, 'Hist. Lit.' vol. i. p. 216 ; Dupm, 'Biblioth. Cent. 5 iv. 
pp. 79, 80; Tillemont, ' Mem. Eccles.' torn. vii. art. ' Lucifer:' 
Baronii, ' Ann ales ad ann.' 356. 

PHCEBADIUS. 

LATTER HALF OF FOURTH CENTURY. 

Phcebadius was a native of Aquitania, and became bishop of 
Agen about the middle of the fourth century. In common with 
his ecclesiastical brethren, he was involved in the all-absorbing 
vortex of the Arian controversy. He first entered the lists by 
writing an elaborate refutation of the second Creed of Sirmium, 
which is still extant. In the year 359, he attended the Council 
of Bimini, where he exerted himself with great zeal and energy on 
behalf of the Nicene doctrines. When all the other Catholic 
bishops had been prevailed upon by threats or artifice to assent to 
the Arian declaration of faith, Phcebadius and Servatio, bishop of 
Tongres, alone refused to comply. They at last, however, agreed 
to sign it, provided an explanatory clause were added : but finding 
that this clause had been nullified by a subsequent alteration, they 
disavowed their concurrence, as obtained by fraud and treachery. 
Jerome speaks of Phcebadius as living when he wrote his Catalogue 
of Ecclesiastical Authors, about a.d. 392 ; little, however, is 
known of his personal history during the latter part of his life. 

The tract against the Creed of Sirmium is the only work of Tract against 
Phcebadius which has reached our times. It is written with sh^um? 0t 
some elegance and force, but does not display much genius or 
originality. Jerome professes his inability to cnve an account of 
this author's other works, because he never read them. It is, 
therefore, most probable that they never attracted much attention. 

This treatise of Phcebadius was published by Beza, 1570 ; and Editions. 
by Pithou, Paris, 1586. It was afterwards inserted in the fourth 
volume of the 'Bibliotheca Patrum.' 

Cave, 'Hist. Lit,' vol. i. pp. 217, 218 ; Dupin, 'Biblioth. Cent.' iv. 
pp. 85-87, Hieron. 'De Scriptor. Eccles.' c. 108. 



86 



ECCLESIASTICAL WRITERS OE THE EOUETH CESTirBY. 



a.d. 390. 



On Repent- 
ance. 

On Baptism. 
Epistles. 



Style, 



Editions. 



PACIAXUS. 

DIED CIRCITER A.D. 390. 

Pacianus was a Spaniard, and bishop of Barcelona, about the 
time of Yalentinian, or as some authors think, towards the latter 
end of the reign of Gratian. Scarcely anything is known of his 
public or private life, except that he had a son named Flavius 
Dexter, commander of the praetorian cohorts in the time of 
Jerome, and on terms of intimacy with that Father. Pacian died 
at an advanced age, a little before the year 390, leaving behind 
him a high reputation for eloquence and sanctity. 

Many of the works of this author are lost ; those which remain 
consist of an ' Exhortation to Repentance,' a short ' Treatise on 
Baptism,' for the use of the catechumens, and three ' Epistles 
against the Errors of the Xovatians.' These compositions give a 
favourable idea of the talents of the writer, and make us regret 
the loss of his other works. His manner is animated, his argu- 
ments are well-chosen and pointedly expressed, and he writes with 
a terseness and elegance seldom found in the Latin authors of the 
period in which he lived. 

Pacian' s works were first collected and edited by Du Tillet, 
Paris, 1538, 4to. Another edition was printed by Paulus Manutius, 
Rome, 1564, folio. They are also to be found in the ( Bibliotheca 
Patrum,' and in D'Aguirre's ' Collectio Conciliorum Hispanorum.' 

Cave, < Hist. Lit.' vol. i. pp. 234, 235 ; Dupin, ' Cent,' iv. pp. 81- 
85 ; Hieron. ' De Scriptor. Eccles.' c. 106. 



EPIPHANIUS. 

DIED A.D. 403. 

Epiphanius was a native of Palestine, and, as it is supposed, of 
Jewish extraction. In his early youth he narrowly escaped being 
seduced by some Egyptian Gnostics, but, having extricated him- 
self from their snares, he adopted an ascetic course of life. This 
he pursued for a number of years, partly under the auspices of the 
celebrated Hilarion, and partly as the superintendent of a consi- 
derable monastery near Eleutheropolis in Palestine. About the 
thirty-sixth year of his age, he was ordained bishop of Salamis in 
the Isle of Cyprus, the duties of which office he appears to have dis- 
charged in a diligent and conscientious manner. The concluding 
years of his life were imbittered by a series of unfortunate dis- 
putes, first with John, bishop of Jerusalem, and afterwards with 
the illustrious Chrysostom, respecting the disciples of Origen, 
against whom Epiphanius had conceived a violent prejudice, so 
that he pursued them with a virulence and acrimony highly dis- 
creditable to his charity and judgment. He died a.d. 402 or 403, 
on his return from Constantinople to Cyprus, being about seventy 
vears of age. 



OPTATTJS. 87 

Credulous in the extreme, and rash, in controversy, he exposed a.d. 378. 
himself to the attacks of his adversaries, and to the censure of style, 
sober-minded and impartial men. Violent in temper, weak in 
style, and inconclusive in reasoning, he did more injury than 
good to the truths which he espoused. Nevertheless, much curious 
information may be obtained from his work on heresies, by a dis- 
criminating reader. 

The best edition of Epiphanius is that published by the Jesuit 
Petavius, Paris, 1622, 2 vols, folio. It was reprinted at Cologne, 
1682, 2 vols. fol. 

Cave, ' Hist. Lit.' vol. i. pp. 231-234 ; Dupin, ' Cent. ' iv. pp. 
234-240 ; Tillemont, ' Mem. Eccles.' torn. x. art. ' S Epiphane ;' 
Hieron. ' De Scriptor. Eccles.' c. 114. 

OPTATUS. 

DIED U^DER VALENTTNIAN. 

Nothing whatever is recorded of the personal history of Optatus, 
except that he was bishop of Milevi in Numidia, and that he died 
under the reign of the Emperor Valentinian. As an author, he is 
advantageously known by a work against the schism of the Dona- Against the 
tists, addressed to Parmenianus, the Donatist bishop of Carthage. 
It is divided into seven books, 1 and furnishes the most elaborate 
and authentic account which we possess of the origin, progress, and 
opinions of that turbulent sect. The author writes, indeed, like a 
partizan, and indulges too freely in declamation and invective ; but, 
while he censures the violence and insubordination of his opponents, 
he does not dissemble that many arbitrary and unjustifiable severi- 
ties were exercised upon them by the civil authorities. His style 
is deficient in elegance, purity, and terseness, and he abounds in 
strained allegorical interpretations of Scripture, nor is his reasoning 
always of the most cogent and conclusive kind. But he writes 
with vivacity and force, and his work abounds with valuable in- 
formation respecting the state of the African Church and of religion 
in general. 

The best edition of Optatus is that superintended by Dupin, 
Doctor of the Sorbonne, Paris, 1700, folio. The reprint of 1702, 
though bearing the name of Paris on the title-page, was hi reality 
executed at Amsterdam. 

Cave, ' Hist. Lit.' vol. i. p. 234 ; Dupin, ' Biblioth. Cent.' iv. pp. 
87-97; Hieron. 'De Scriptor. Eccles.' c. 120. 

1 Jerome describes it as consisting only of six books ; indeed, the seventh book differs 
so materially from the others, both in style and sentiment, that there is strong reason 
to believe it has been added by some later writer. 



Donatists. 



88 ECCLESIASTICAL WRXTEKS OE THE FOURTH CEXTTTEY. 

EPHREM SYRUS. 

DIED CIKCITER A.D. 378. 

a.d. 378. Ephrem was a native of Nisibis, but, as he passed tbe greatest 
part of his life at Edessa, the metropolis of Osrhoene, he is fre- 
quently called Ephrem of Edessa. His youth was spent in mon- 
astic exercises and abstruse studies, in the latter of which he is said 
to have acquired great proficiency, without the aid of a teacher. 
He became, in process of time, deacon of the Church of Edessa, 
but, that he might have more leisure for devout meditation and 
literary pursuits, he would never take any higher function. After 
maintaining, during many years, the highest reputation throughout 
the East for piety and genius, he died about a.d. 378. 

Ephrem was the most laborious and voluminous writer of his time. 
Besides a copious commentary on all the books of the Old and Xew 
Testament, and a multitude of homilies and sermons, he is said to 
have written twelve thousand metrical compositions. Many of his 
works are extant in the original Syriac, and a number in Greek and 
Arabic versions. The most valuable and important of his produc- 

Commentary tions, is his c Commentary on the Books of the Old Testament.' He 

turesT Scnp " nac ^ m deed, no pretensions to the varied erudition and critical skill 
of Jerome, but he is in general a judicious and rational expositor, 
with clear views of the literal sense of the sacred text. He was 
also well acquainted with the geography, history, and antiquities 

Metrical f Eastern nations. The remainder of his Syriac compositions are 
' chiefly metrical, if a division into lines of a certain number of 
syllables, without attention to rhythm, may be allowed to constitute 
metre. Some of those pieces are devotional hymns, others are con- 
troversial, written to counteract the prevailing heresies of the time. 
They contain some valuable and curious matter ; but though they 
raised his fame very high among his countrymen, they seem to us 
more creditable to his diligence and piety than to his poetical genius. 
Indeed, if his talent for poetry had been of a higher description, it 
would have been difficult to display it to advantage in the prosaic 
and unmusical language in which he wrote. 

Many Greek homilies and tracts bearing the name of Ephrem 
are still extant. Some are written in a strain of simple and fervent 
piety, not unworthy of the author to whom they are attributed. 
There is reason to suspect that the greater part of them have been 
interpolated by translators, and some are altogether spurious. 

The only edition of the works of Ephrem is that published at 
Eome 1743, by Stephen Enodius Assemanni, 6 vols. fol. Its 
greatest defect is, (and it is a very great one,) that the Latin 
version of the Syriac text is so unfaithful as to be almost useless. 

Editions. Cave, ' Hist. Lit.' vol. i. pp. 235-238, and vol. ii. Appen. ii. pp. 

19-24; Dupin, 'Biblioth. Cent.' iv. pp. 115-120; Assemanni, 
' Biblioth. Orientalis/ vol. i. p. 25, et seq. 



BASIL OE C^SABEA. 89 

BASIL OF CLESAREA. 

BORN CIRCITER A.D. 328. DIED A.D. 378. 

Basil, a native of Cappadocia, or as some authors think of Pontus, a.d. 378, 
was born about a.d. 328, of highly respectable Christian parents, 
who spared no pains in his instruction in every elegant and useful 
branch of learning. He studied successively under the best mas- 
ters of Antioch, Csesarea, Constantinople, and Athens, where he 
acquired a proficiency both in sacred and profane literature un- 
rivalled by any of his contemporaries, except his friend Gregory 
Nazianzen. The afflicted state of the Church during the Arian 
persecution induced him to retire, shortly after his ordination, to a 
solitary spot in his native province. The fame of his piety and 
austerities attracting a number of devout persons to the place, he 
drew up a body of laws for the regulation of the society so formed, 
and thus became the founder of Monasticism in Pontus and the 
neighbouring provinces. Towards the end of the year 369, he was 
appointed bishop of Csesarea in Cappadocia, where he speedily 
snowed that his talents for business of the most arduous kind 
were not inferior to his other qualifications. After governing his 
diocese in the most able and exemplary manner eight years, he 
died a.d. 378. 

Basil was unquestionably one of the most eminent men of his 
time. To a capacious and powerful mind, richly stored with ori- 
ginal conceptions and acquired knowledge, he united great activity, 
presence of mind, and moral courage, and he was neither disheart- 
ened by difficulties, nor intimidated by dangers. In a variety of 
arduous contests, and most trying circumstances, he universally 
acquitted himself with dignity and firmness, and even when un- 
successful, he maintained the respectability of his character and 
station. 

As a writer, Basil is distinguished by a noble and majestic Works and 
gravity, and by striking and original thoughts expressed in pure style * 
and elevated language. If he does not equal Gregory Nazianzen 
in his occasional bursts of sublimity and pathos, he has the taste and 
discretion to avoid his faults : he is copious without redundancy, 
and eloquent without being declamatory. His expository, his 
homiletical, and his moral works are all excellent in their way ; 
and we have, moreover, upwards of four hundred of his letters, which 
are models of epistolary style, and replete with valuable information 
respecting the history of the eventful times in which he lived. 

The best edition of the works of Basil is the Benedictine, Editions, 
superintended by Gamier, Paris, 1721, 1730, 3 vols. fol. All 
those which preceded are incomplete and badlv arranged. 

Cave, 'Hist. Lit. 5 vol. i. pp. 233-243; Dupin, 'Biblioth. Cent.' 
iv. pp. 122-159. Tillemont, 'Mem. Eccles.' torn. ix. art. <S. 
Basne.' 



90 



ECCLESIASTICAL WKITEBS OE THE FOURTH CEKTURT. 



GREGORIUS NAZIANZENUS. 

DIED A.D. 389. 

a.d. 326. An insignificant village in Cappadocia, Nazianzum, or Dio- 
csesarea, had the honour of being the birthplace of this pre-eminent 
divine of the fourth century, pre-eminent alike in every branch of 
learning and in every Christian excellence. 

Birth. The date of his birth has been the subject of much controversy, 

but is now important only as it involves the question of episcopal 
celibacy in the early ages. It is clear from a passage in his own 
works, 1 that his father had entered on episcopal functions prior to 
a.d. 326, the best attested date of the birth of this celebrated son. 
Yet Suidas and some Romish writers have so antedated it as to 
save a Christian bishop, what they considered, the disgrace of 
having produced the most exemplary Christian of the age. Tille- 
mont, with candour worthy of imitation, has refuted the error and 
exposed the motive. 

Education. From Gregory's own account, it appears that his parents were 

orthodox and pious, though his father, in early life, had been 
tainted with the Hypsistarian heresy. From their tuition, he 
departed first for Csesarea in Cappadocia, then for Palestine, after- 
wards for Alexandria, and subsequently for Athens, where he per- 
fected himself in scholastic accomplishments, and entered into the 
closest friendship w r ith Basil, the future archbishop of Csesarea : a 
friendship the pleasures and pains of which he has exquisitely 
described in his letters, and in his poem on his own life. 

Gregory Nazianzen would have quitted Athens with his friend 
in 355, had he not been detained by the solicitations of the 
scholars to remain there as teacher of rhetoric. In the following 
year, however, his ardour for literary fame yielding to filial affec- 
tion, he returned to his father, and assisted him in the manage- 
ment of his patrimony. Some writers defer his reception into the 
Church by baptism to this period ; none place it later. 

Ordination. An interval of five or six years having been spent in domestic 
duties, or in studious retirement with Basil, he was ordained priest 
by his father, in 361 or 362. His notions, however of the impor- 
tance of the priestly office and of his own inadequacy, led him to a 
second retirement from society — a retirement again passed in the 
company of Basil, whom he then assisted in drawing up his A scetic 
Rules. But the commands of his father, backed by the voice of 
his countrymen, soon recalled him to Nazianzum, and enlisted him 
in the active discharge of his ministerial functions. 

His first effort as a minister was as successful as it was import- 
ant. His father, in obedience to the general edict of Constantius, 



1 In his poem de Vita sua, Gregory introduces his father speaking to him thus 

Ovcru rotrovrov Ixuiuir^vix'x,; fitov, 
"Otro; fovjhfa ttvtriuv 1/J.ot z*o v0 >* 



GEE GOBY ^AZIAFZEtf. 91 

but in opposition to his own pure doctrine, as was afterwards a.d. 370. 
allowed by bis opponents, bad signed the Arian formulary of 
Ariminum. 1 A schism in bis Church followed ; which was healed 
by his son, before, in accordance with the practice of the age, it 
became a subject of dispute and disgrace to Christianity in general. 
The succeeding six or seven years were spent by Gregory unob- 
trusively in assisting his father in his pastoral duties ; a mode of 
life most congenial to his disposition, but eventually disturbed by 
his dearest friend, about 370. 

Basil, at that time bishop of Caesarea, had to contend for the Made Bishop 
integrity of his Metropolitan jurisdiction over Cappadocia, against ofSasima - 
Anthimus, bishop of Tyana, who asserted that, as a civil division 
of that province had taken place, an ecclesiastical one ought to 
follow. In order to bring the matter to issue, Basil created a see 
within the disputed district. The place selected was Sasima ; than 
which, if Gregory Xazianzen's description of it be correct, 2 a more 
inhospitable spot cannot be conceived: and here Basil resolved 
that his friend Gregory should be bishop. The latter, urged by 
his father, reluctantly consented to be consecrated, and the cere- 
mony was performed at Csesarea, but the forcible seizure of his 
new church by Anthimus afforded him a pretext for deserting it, 
which he eagerly embraced ; and in so doing he was justified by 
the Eighteenth Canon of the Council of Antioch. 

This affair so offended Gregory, that his friendship with Basil 
was all but finally extinguished. A reconciliation, however, must 
have taken place within two years, as, at the end of that interval, 
we find Basil his smypathetic visitor in affliction. Yet many years 
afterwards, the wound to his feelings, vseeq^eovrog aaetsl vsov, " fes- 
tered as though it were new ;" and he complains of it in his poem 
on his own life, in a style of sarcasm and invective, not less foreign 
to, than unbecoming of his character. This is the more inex- 
plicable, as in his funeral oration over Basil he not only alludes to 
it without bitterness, but ascribes this breach of friendship (as he 
still terms it) to Basil's preference of "things heavenly" to 
"things destructible," "hvof&evav ; and in one of his epitaphs he 
lavishes the most unqualified and affectionate praise on him. 3 

After a few months' solitude, being now a bishop, he undertook 
the subordinate charge of his father's see at Nazianzum, in which 

1 The Rimini of Tillemont and other writers. 

2 'Xrce.dfias Tig 'itrnv 1» ptearfi\&*p6%a 

Tyj Kce,-7'7ccho'<coyj, o; ar%i&'T f dg i F%i<r<rr l * o$ov 
" Avv'h^o;, a.%\xs, olc'o'f.oji iXivdipcg, 
Azivoj;, tz-rniZTGy, tzou trrivov, »cuf/,Ct^iov' 
"Kcvis roc sraprs, xcu *l/6$oi t ah\> a.°u.<x.ari, 
®gr t voi, (TTivccyuLoi, «r«a.«Tfl»£?, o~TeifiXa.i, trzdcti, 
Ko?j? 8' oirot %i\Gi ri x.oc) trXccvu/xiiot. 
AvV'/i ^occifjccajv tov iiA'Zv ixxXqaria. 

Greg. Xaz. Carmen de Vita sua. 
3 Gibbon has employed this complaint of Gregory as a charge of pride and base 
envy against Basil. The facts do not bear him out. The whole affair is utterly 
inexplicable. 



92 ECCLESIASTICAL WEITEES OF THE EOUKTH CENTURY. 

A.D. 378. capacity lie distinguished himself by calming the inhabitants in a 
revolt, and by averting their punishment. On his father's death, 
in 374, he continued, for a short time, in the charge of that 
Church ; but he denies any regular appointment to it, although 
such appointment is supported by the authority of Sozomen, So- 
crates, Theodoritus, and Hieronymus. It is certain, however, 
that he was subsequently expelled from Constantinople a.d. 378. 
on the plea of his being bishop of the former see. He now with- 
drew to Seleucia, where he remained till invited to Constantinople, 
for the purpose of defending pure Christianity against the predom- 
inating influence of the Arians. 

Anastasia, Here, in a private room, known by the name of Anastasia, 

which was shortly to be changed into a magnificent temple, and 
before a small and persecuted assembly, which was rapidly to in- 
crease to a dominant Church, he advocated the cause of the true 
Christian faith with Athenian eloquence, 1 and with true Christian 
fortitude and meekness. 

The plan pursued by him in his difficult task, remains a bril- 
liant example to all those who may at any time be called on to 
confirm truth and dissipate error. He exhorted true believers to 
beware of bewildering themselves with reasonings on things in- 
comprehensible to human nature, lest they should be lost in 
heretical fancies ; he insisted on the absurdity of attempting to 
reduce to a " trade and an art" the great and invisible mysteries of 
God ; and while he taught that G-od should ever be in their hearts, 
he deprecated unreasonable disquisitions on His nature, observing 
that such discussions are not appropriate before all companies, or 
in all places, nor within the province of all understandings. On 
the other hand, he abstained from violent and contumelious lan- 
guage, and especially from personalities towards his adversaries ; 
contending, that to imitate the gentleness and meekness of Christ, 
is among the surest tokens of a defender of the true Christian 
faith. Yet he did not by any means compromise truth : on the 
contrary, he possessed himself of the errors of the heretics by 
occasionally listening to their preachers, in order that he might 
the more effectually refute them ; laying down for his rule, neither 
to repel them by harshness, nor elate them by concession. 

Yet, in spite of this moderation, the more attractive on account 
of its singularity in those times, and supported by the most con- 
ciliatory personal bearing, Gregory Nazianzen, or rather the cause 
which he defended, was not to triumph without a fearful struggle, 
nor without the contaminating aid of the secular arm. 

1 On this subject we have a singular proof of the tendency to inaccuracy induced 
by the love of the marvellous. Tillemont, the great admirer of Gregory Nazianzen's 
eloquence, tries to enhance the miraculous effect of his discourses against the Arians, 
by describing him in this instance, and this only, as a man d'un paiier rude et cham- 
pestre. 



GBEGORT KAZIA]N T ZE3". 93 

Instigated by a report that Gregory SFazianzen was a Tritheist, a.d. 330, 
animated also by a partiality for the Arian Bishop Hemophilus, 
the rabble of Constantinople, of each sex and of every sect, headed 
by some furious monks, attacked Gregory and his congregation 
while celebrating our Saviour's baptism in the Anastasia. The Arian riot. 
weapons usual to the mob were abundantly employed, many of 
the Catholics were dreadfully beaten, some nearly stoned to death, 
and one, who appears to have been Theodoras, afterwards bishop 
of Tyana, was left for dead in the streets. Gregory himself, after 
a narrow escape, was thrown into prison, but speadily released. 
Drunkenness and obscene dances closed the disgusting spectacle. 

The subsequent conduct of Gregory in relation to this affair is 
too exemplary to be passed over in silence. Theodoras, incensed 
at the outrage and his own sufferings, resolved to demand justice 
on the perpetrators at the hands of Theodosius, a demand not 
likely to be refused by that anti- Arian prince. But Gregory, 
hearing of his intention, wrote to him to the following effect : that 
it was not surprising that Theodoras should demand justice, con- 
sidering the enormity of the offence, and that punishment indeed 
might prevent its recurrence ; but that it was better to give an 
example of long-suffering which might make bad men really good, 
while punishment would only restrain them, through fear, from 
crime. "Let us," says this genuine Christian, "let us overcome 
them by gentleness and win them by piety ; let their punishment 
be found in their own consciences, not in our resentment. Dry 
not up the fig-tree that may yet bear fruit ; condemn it not as 
useless, since an able husbandman may yet restore it to vigour ; let 
us not ruin a glorious and important work on account of a circum- 
stance that may have been a device of the devil." 

His infant Church was soon to be troubled by internal disorders, 
more dangerous and infinitely more difficult of remedy than ex- 
ternal violence. A dispute at Antioch concerning Paulinus and. 
Meletius, rival claimants to that see, extended to Constantinople, 
and was warmly taken up with opposite views by Gregory Naz- 
ianzen's congregation. His Fourteenth Oration, in which he ap- 
plies himself to the cure of this schism, contains some ever-to-be- 
remembered rules of toleration. He even contends that minor 
points of doctrine should be sunk in peace, if unanimity prevails 
in those more important. In this spirit he condemned the error 
of the Apollinarians, yet did not withhold from communicating 
with them. 

This danger avoided, another and more important one followed. 
Maximus, by birfch an Egyptian, a Cynic philosopher by profes- 
sion, an Apollinarian in doctrine, and in practice infamous, came 
to Constantinople under the pretence of a pious desire for Gregory's 
instruction, but, in fact, with the purpose of defeating his claims 
to the metropolitan chair. Having deceived Gregory, and being 



94 ECCLESIASTICAL WBITEKS OE THE EOrETH CEXTTJET. 

a.d. 381. assisted by seven Egyptian bishops 1 in the first place, and sub- 
sequently by others sent by Peter of Alexandria, Maximus was 
clandestinely consecrated in the church of Sophia ; the ceremony 
took place in the night, and was further disgraced by the hired 
attendance of rude Egyptian sailors. This measure provoked 
general disgust, even among the heretics, most of whom admired 
the eloquence and loved the character of Gregory Nazianzen, 
though they might not admit the validity of his arguments. 

A proposal on his part to retire from Constantinople, was 
effectually opposed for a time, and his refusal to be placed in the 
metropolitan chair was followed by complaints almost amounting 
to invectives. Ill health, however, or agitation of mind, compelled 
a temporary retirement and suspension of his duties. The term of 
his absence must have been short, as we find him again preaching 
in Constantinople before the entrance of Theodosius. In the mean- 
time, his adversary Maximus, driven from Constantinople, and re- 
jected by the Italian bishops and by Theodosius, returned to Egypt. 

Shortly afterwards, the Arian Bishop Demophilus was deposed, 
and Gregory placed in his stead, at the command and with the 
personal assistance of the same prince (Theodosius). This event, 
the death-blow to Arian ascendency, took place amidst the execra- 
tions of one party, and the joyful acclamations of the other : public 
security was insured! by the presence of the military, and the 
judicious interference of Gregory. 2 

In the following year his appointment was confirmed by a 
council of 150 bishops, convened by Theodosius at Constantinople ; 
yet this very council, a few weeks afterwards, urged his deposition, 
Resignation, and accepted his resignation, a.d. 381. 

Of the causes of this anomalous transaction, or the motives of 
the agents, it is difficult to give a satisfactory account. That Gre- 
gory jSTazianzen, careless of worldly honour and riches, harassed by 
infirmity of body and excessive mental exertion, disappointed in 
his hope of allaying schism in the Eastern Churches, finding him- 
self in his metropolitan character a subject of further dispute, 
and estimating Christian unity above all things — that he should 
sacrifice ecclesiastical dignity, influence, and wealth, to what he 
considered the peace of the Church, is not to be wondered at. 3 
But that those who summoned him from retirement to defend the 
pure faith, and those who, in establishing him in the Chair of 

^mmon, Apammon, Harpocras, Stippas, Ehodon, Annbis, and Hermanubis. A 
question whether these persons were bishops has been mooted. Bollandus and Her- 
mant assert that they were so. Vallois is of the contrary opinion. Tillemont doubts. 
The first two writers contend that one mission only came over from Egypt on this 
occasion ; an opinion refuted by a passage in Gregory Nazianzen's poem on his life. 

2 The offensive features of this scene are highly finished by the hand of Gibbon, 
while those of a gratifying cast are totally overlooked. 

3 Our own Reformed Episcopal Church affords a brilliant parallel to this conduct of 
Gregory in that of Leighton, Archbishop of Glasgow. 



GEE GOBY jSTAZIAtfZEtf. 95 

Constantinople, acknowledged him as the successful champion of a.d. 381, 
that faith, should rejoice at his resignation, or seek to depose him, 
must be laid to the account of levity, jealousy, or envy. 

The only facts transmitted to us are these. A schism, likely to 
affect the whole Church, (as has been mentioned,) had arisen on 
the relative claims of Meletius and Paulinus to the see of Antioch. 
It had been checked, not healed, by an understanding that the 
rivals should be equally received, and that the survivor should be 
sole Bishop. Meletius died while President of the Council of 
which we are speaking. Gregory ISTazianzen succeeded him in the 
Council, and wished to enforce the stipulation that Paulinus should 
be unmolested at Antioch. He failed : the schism increased : and 
Gregory finding himself unequal to check it, offered to resign the 
situation, the healing influence of which he had overrated. Im- 
mediately on this, followed the accession to the Council of some 
Macedonian and Egyptian bishops. These persons impugned the 
validity of Gregory's metropolitan appointment, on the ground, 
that he was already Bishop of Nazianzum, and that translation was 
forbidden by the decrees of the Council of Antioch. This motive 
has been generally ascribed, even by Gregory himself, to jealousy 
in the Egyptian Church of the Eastern bishops who had princi- 
pally promoted his elevation. A more natural cause may be found 
in the intrigues of Maximus, whose return in discomfiture to Alex- 
andria has been already mentioned. Be this as it may, Gregory's 
resignation was received with pleasure by the Council, and accepted 
by Theodosius. 

He returned to Nazianzum, and in the following year, a.d. 382, 
undertook the episcopal duties there, having previously visited 
Csesarea for the purpose of delivering his celebrated Funeral Oration 
over Basil. In a.d. 383 he resigned them to Eulalius, whose 
appointment he had himself procured. The six remaining years of 
his life were occupied in literary and devotional pursuits. In a.d. . 
389 he sank beneath the complication of bodily disease and mental 
anxiety. Of his death we have no particulars ; but we learn that 
his corpse was laid by the side of his father's. Many centuries 
afterwards the tomb was opened, and his supposed remains removed 
to Constantinople by order of Constantine Porphyrogenitus. 

As a writer, Gregory ISTazianzen, though sometimes diffuse, was style. 
always eloquent, and often sublime. Hieronymos terms his style 
to 'Io-o^^t/^oz/, while others compare it to Polemon's ; and one of 
his admirers observes, " that the epithet psya'hoQavoTot.Tos, applied 
by Gregory Nazianzen to the prophet Isaiah, is not inapplicable 
to himself." As a divine he so far outstripped his age, that he 
was entitled 6 ho\6yog nav 1 e%o%v!/ ; and a difference from his doc- 
trine was identified with heresy. A dutiful son, a faithful friend, 
and universally beneficent, he would have been a model for society, 
had he not been too sensitive, and, perhaps, too ascetic. Humble, 



96 ECCLESIASTICAL WBITEKS OF THE rorETH CEXTUET. 

a.d. 382. though full of energy ; despising worldly advantages unless he 
could apply them, to the advancement of religion ; untainted by 
immorality, forgiving injuries, 1 and indefatigable in his ministry. 
he may be accounted the most exemplary, as well as the most able. 
Christian, on record, in the fourth century. 
Editions. The genuine works of Gregory In azianzen are his Orations, in 

number about forty-seven; Epistles 240; and a vast number of 
Poems. Nineteen of his poems were first discovered in 1690 by 
Jacob Tollius, a German, who published them in 1696 in his ' In- 
signia Itinerarii Italici.' One hundred and forty Epitaphs were 
afterwards discovered by Muratori, and were published by him, in 
1709, in his ' Anecdota Grseca. 5 The first edition, a very bad and 
rare one, of the great body of his works is that of Basle, 1550. 
The next in time, and the first in merit, (as a whole,) appeared at 
Paris in 1609, under the care of Jacobus Billius ; but even in this 
there are many typographical errors. This was republished in 
1630, with all the old, and some additional errors. In 1690, the 
6 Editio Princeps' was reprinted verbatim in beautiful type at 
Cologne. An edition was prepared by the Benedictines ; out the 
first volume only has appeared. It contains his ' Orations and 
Letters,' and is unrivalled as far as it goes. The MS. of the 
second volume is in existence, and for sale. The purchase and 
publication of it would be worthy of either of our Universities. 
In England, E. Montagu, the friend of Sir Henry Saville, editor 
of St. Chrysostom, published two of Gregory's ' Orations,' entitled 
' In Julianum Invectivse Duse,' Etonse in Collegio Kegali, 1610 ; 
and a copy of his ' Apologeticus' was edited by E. S. Thirlby, and 
published at Cambridge in 1712. 

Cave, 'Hist. Lit.' vol. i. pp. 2-16-249; Dupin 'Biblioth Cent. 5 
iv. pp. 159-176: Tillemont, vol. ix. art. e Gregoire de Nazianze:' 
Fabricus, ' Biblioth. Graec' vol. vii. p. 508, et seq. 

GKEGORIUS NYSSENUS. 

BORN A.D. 330. 

Gregory, bishop of ISTyssa, and brother of Basil of Caesarea. was 
born in 330 or 331. He was educated in all the refined learning 
of his age, and pursued the science of rhetoric so eagerly, that 
he brought on himself, after he had been appointed Reader, a 
strong remonstrance on the subject from Xazianzen. 

He married a lady named Theodosia, as much distinguished as 
himself for birth and piety. As this marriage cannot be disputed. 
some Romish writers affirm that after Gregorius Nyssenus had 

1 A striking instance of his forgiving disposition occurred during his short episco- 
pate at Constantinople. The Arians, in then* rage at his appointment, proposed his 
assassination, and a young man was found to undertake the crime. On entering 
Gregory's apartment he repented, confessed, and was not only forgiven by Gregory, 
but received into his intimate friendship. 



GREGOKIUS NYSSENTTS. 97 

been promoted to the Episcopate it was virtually nullified, by total a.d. 381. 
absence of conjugal intimacy. In support of this fable, Tillemont 
cites a passage from Nazianzen, where Theodosia is called Nysse- 
nus's sister instead of his wife. But this passage is almost imme- 
diately succeeded by the following one. Applying the word eftvju 
to Theodosia, Nazianzen thus explains himself: Ipw yoL^ ovo/auga 

vapeirixjjS' l This casuistry in Tillemont is the more remarkable, 
as we have seen his candour, on the same point of celibacy, in the 
life of Nazianzen. 

In 372, Gregory was consecrated Bishop of Nyssa in Cappadocia, ordination. 
and as such became the victim of the Arian persecution under 
Yalens. An imperial edict banished him in 376 : but on the death 
of Yalens, and the accession of Gratian, in 378, he was restored to 
his Church. In the same year, being deputed by the Council of 
Antioch to visit the Eastern Churches, which were sorely afflicted 
by the Arians, he travelled through Arabia to Jerusalem. His 
opinion of the state of these Churches appears, from his own 
writings, to have been most unfavourable. Of his success in re- 
forming any of them we have not any knowledge ; but that he 
totally failed at Jerusalem he himself informs us. The most 
important result of his journey was his consequent declaration of 
the inutility and disadvantage of pilgrimages, a declaration decisive 
on the erroneous practice, in that respect, of the Eomish Church. 
In 381, he attended the great Council at Constantinople, where 
he first produced his celebrated work against the Arian Eunomius. 
He is also supposed to have been the author of the Creed then 
drawn up, but known under the name of the Nicene Creed. The 
remainder of his life was distinguished only by a quarrel with 
Helladius, his metropolitan, a person of no learning and little 
piety, who grossly insulted him : the issue of the dispute is not 
known. The date of his death may be placed towards the end of 
the fourth century. 

As the text of this father's works is supposed to have been st 7 le » 
much interpolated by the Heretics, no decided opinion can be 
formed on his style. Dupin has denounced it as affected, declama- 
tory, allegorical, and philosophical rather than theological. But 
he says, at the same time, that it resembles Aristotle's, and there- 
fore he is clearly wrong. Other critics have admired it as inferior 
only to those of Basil, Nazianzen, and Chrysostom. Photius, 
speaking of his work against Eunomius, thus describes it : tw (&eu 
(ppocaiu, d rig ocT^hog pqropav, 'hupirpog, y,c&\ 7$ovqg ualu dTroarocfay. 

Gregory of Nyssa appears in his youth to have been more 
attached to the world than was the custom with the great divines 
of those times. As a bishop he was a zealous defender of the true 

1 Naz, Ep. 95. This letter was written by Nazianzen to Gregory of Nyssa to com- 
fort him on the death of Theodosia. 

II 



98 



ECCLESIASTICAL WBITEES OE THE EOUETH CENTUET. 



Against 
Eunomius. 



A.D. 374. faith. His ability is proved by his being chosen to reform the 
Arabian Churches, as is his piety by the patient firmness with 
which he endured persecution. 

The works of Gregory of Nyssa do not admit of exact classifi- 
cation ; yet they may be generally divided into c Homilies, Orations, 
and Letters.' His twelve books against Eunomius are his best 
work. Some critics have made thirteen, either by dividing one 
into two, or by adding a spurious one. His spurious works are, 
6 two Orations on the Creation of Man ;' c a Letter on the Trinity ;' 
another on the difference between ' the Substance and the Hypos- 
tasis ;' and eight books on c Philosophy.' These last were written 
by Nemesius. 

The earlier editions of this father's works are extremely defective, 
no individual one containing more than a few detached treatises. 
The edition published by Morel, with the notes of Fronton le Due, 
Paris, 1609, 2 vols. fol. though much fuller than any preceding 
one, wants the first book against Eunomius, and the Greek text of 
several of the moral ' Orations,' which were first published by 
Gretsen, in 1618, as an appendix to the Paris edition of St. Basil. 
The edition of 1638, though more complete than that of 1602, is 
carelessly executed, and abounds with typographical errors. 

Cave < Hist. Lit.' vol. i. pp. 244-246 ; Dupin, 'Biblioth. Cent.' iv. 
pp. 176-183 ; Fabricius, 'Biblioth. Grsec' vol. viii. p. 144, et seq. 



Editions. 



AMBROSIUS. 



Birth. 



Parentage. 



BORN A.D. 340. 



DIED A.D. 397. 



The three ancient cities of Aries, Treves, and Lyons dispute 
the honour of having given birth to this bold defender of the faith. 
The date also of his birth is uncertain. Dupin and Tillemont place 
it in 340. 1 Baronius and Cave in 333. 

His father, prsefect of Gaul, having died while Ambrose was 
yet a child, he was removed by his mother to Eome, where his 
education was highly finished. 2 As a pleader in the Praetorian 
Court he attracted the attention of Anicius Probus, prsefect of 
Italy, and was appointed by him, first a member of his Council, 
and then Governor, with Consular powers, of Insubria, JEmyliai, 
and Liguria. He performed the duties of this office for five years, 
residing always at Milan. But at the end of that period, a.d. 374, 
he was unanimously called on to succeed Auxentius in the Episco- 
pal chair of that city. Vain was every attempt in his power to 

1 340 is the most probable date. For Ambrose appears to have been quite young 
when appointed to govern a province, which government he retained only for five 
years, yet it was not till a.d. 374 that he resigned it. 

2 A remarkable anecdote, partaking of true legendary spirit, and paralleled, as every 
reader will call to mind, in profane literature, is related of him by all writers of his 
life. A swarm of bees, it is said, settled on his face while he was sleeping in a cradle, 
and crept in and out of his mouth without hurting him. 



a:\ibeositjs. 99 

avoid* the unexpected honour : he was baptized, (for as vet he was a.d. 383. 
only a catechumen,) and consecrated amidst the acclamations of Consecration 
the people, and with the sanction, if not in the presence, of the 
Emperor Yalentinian I. 

That this abrupt transition from secular to holy office, from an 
imperfect state of outward Christianity to the highest dignity of 
the Christian Church, was contrary both to the custom and Canons 
of the Church, cannot be denied. But the assent of all parties, 
especially of the bishops, proves beyond doubt the fitness, if not 
the necessity of the election : Os% Ipyoa and Qz7cc ^(pog are the 
terms applied to it by Socrates and Theodoritus. 

To supply his deficiency in theological learning, he took to him- 
self a learned presbyter of Rome, by name Simphcianus, 1 as his 
instructor. To remove the interfering burden of worldly cares, he 
gave his money to the poor, his estates to his sister and to the 
Church, and the management of his household to his brother 
Satyrus, He immediately undertook the duty of preaching, con- 
fessing that he taught others what he himself had scarcely learned; 
and within two years from his consecration he commenced his written 
labours by a ' Treatise on Paradise.' 2 

In a.d. 377 he fled into Illyricum, from fear of the invading 
Goths, and thence visited Rome ; but soon returned to his diocese 
on the defeat of the barbarians by Frigeridus. On this occasion, 
preferring practical charity to ecclesiastical pomp, he sold the 
Church plate and employed the proceeds in the ramsom of prisoners. 
In the meantime, the arts of the Arians, aided by the power of 
Justina, widow of Yalentinian, threatened all the Italian Churches. 
But Ambrose having first suppressed them at !Milan, defeated them 
at Sirmium by consecrating a true Catholic bishop there, in open op- 
position to the Empress, and completed his victory (though not a 
decisive one) by the deposition from their respective sees, of Secun- 
dianus and Paulinus, 3 the principal leaders of the Arians in Italy.. 

The political talent, so early evinced by Ambrose, was now to Talents. 
be exercised in the preservation of public peace, and the defence of 
youth and justice. Maximus had been proclaimed Emperor in 
Britain, had compassed the death of Gratian, overrun Gaul, and 
with a powerful host was separated from Italy only by the Alps. 
Justina, alarmed for the Italian dominions and the safety of her 
child Valentinian II., implored Ambrose to undertake an embassy 
to Maximus, and to avert his design on Italy. He did so. As his 
success is a proof of his political skill, so his regard for the dignity 
of his sacred office is shown by his refusal to admit to communion 

1 Simplicianus, though older than himself, succeeded him in his diocese. 

2 Cave says de Virginibus. This work, however, appears not to have been written 
till a.d. 378, and to have been preceded by those on Paradise, Cain and Abel, and 
Tobias. Tillemont. 

3 At a council held in Aquileia. 



100 ECCLESIASTICAL WEITEES OE THE EOTTKTH CEKTUET. 

a.d. 385. the unrepenting murderer of Gratian, though he himself was in 
the grasp of the tyrant. On his return, his eloquence and wisdom 
were as necessary as they were effectual in suppressing an attempt, 
a.d. 384, by Symmachus, to re-establish heathenism at Milan, at 
that time the seat of the young Emperor's court. 

But neither eloquence nor wisdom unsupported by truth and 
personal courage, would have borne him through his approaching 
trial. Justina, still devoted to Arianism, and provoked by the 
boldness of Ambrose, had recourse to every intrigue and all the 
violence that despotism could command, in support of her favourite 
heresy. Plans were laid for the abduction of Ambrose, and even 
for his assassination ; some churches were forcibly seized by the 
military — heavy fines were levied on the refractory — and the Em- 
peror's authority was exhausted in denunciations against all who 
called in question the decrees of the Arian Council of Ariminum. 
But Ambrose, always alert and firm, and supported by popular 
feeling, resisted every attempt ; and, after two years' unremitted 
persecution, obtained a complete triumph ; though, according to 
some writers, not without the interposition of miracles. 1 

In the following year Ambrose undertook a second embassy to 
Maximus. His object was, as before, to prevent an invasion of 
Italy : but the issue was far different ; for he not only utterly 
failed, but was received with haughty coldness, and dismissed 
with insult. On his return he visited Aquileia, but his object in 
doing so is not known. 

His unbending spirit next led him into a hazardous conflict with 
Theodosius, then (a.d. 388) master of the Western provinces, and 
resident at Milan. Some monks, provoked by the Jews, burned a 
synagogue at Leontopolis, and Theodosius ordered that it should be 
rebuilt at the expense of the offending party. Ambrose, indignant 
that Christian funds should be employed for the erection of an un- 
christian temple, remonstrated against the Emperor's order. The 
Emperor, however, thinking that destroyers were liable to the cost 
of their destruction, and that all persons, of whatever religion, had 
claim to civil protection of their property ? was not willing to re- 
Boidnes3. scind the offensive order. Ambrose preached against Theodosius 
in his presence, and publicly refused communion to him unless he 
altogether countermanded the measure — an alternative immediately 
agreed to by Theodosius. About the same time he endeavoured 
to procure for the clergy immunity from the imperial imposts, but 
it does not appear that he succeeded. 

In a.d. 389, a frightful and unjust massacre having been com- 

1 St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, Paulinus. A less 'wonderful, but not less effectual 
interposition, may be found in a letter from Maximus to Valentinian, threatening him 
with invasion if he continued to persecute the Catholics. Tillemont has in vain at- 
tempted to invalidate the authenticity of this letter, in opposition to Theodoritus and 
Sozomen. 



AMBEOSIUS, 101 

mitted at Thessalonica by the orders of Theodosius, Ambrose wrote a.d. 389, 
to him, and informed him that he would not be admitted to the com- 
munion of any of the divine offices until he would sincerely and 
publicly repent. Theodosius, on his return to Milan, presented 
himself at the church, but Ambrose refused him entrance, and re- 
buked him with great boldness and severity. For eight months 
the Emperor submitted with grief to the humiliating ban ; nor did 
Ambrose then remove it without wresting from him a law, that all 
warrants affecting life or forfeiture of estates, should be kept back 
thirty days after they were signed, in order for their deliberate 
reconsideration. This done, Ambrose absolved his imperial peni- 
tent, but kept in reserve a finishing stroke of humiliation : for when 
Theodosius went within the rails protecting the altar, as was the 
custom with the emperors, to receive the communion, the stern 
prelate sent a deacon to order him to stand without, among the 
people, "for though the Purple made men Emperors, it did not make 
them Priests." Theodosius apologized and obeyed! 

In a.d. 392, Yalentinian, being at Yienne, sent for Ambrose to 
baptize him ; but scarcely had the Bishop crossed the Alps, when 
he found that his journey was useless, for Yalentinian had been 
murdered. Having returned to Milan, he visited Bononia, Fa- 
ventia, and Florence ; or, perhaps, he fled to those places on ac- 
count of the approach of Eugenius. On the defeat and death of 
that usurper, he returned to Milan, having passed through Aquileia 
for the purpose of interceding with Theodosius in favour of the 
conquered rebels. On the accession of Honorius, his zeal for the 
privileges of the Church was again roused in defence of some cul- 
prits who had sought refuge in the sanctuary. His remaining years 
were undisturbed, excepting by his vigilant inspection of all the 
churches under his jurisdiction. In a.d. 397 he died, and such was Death, 
the admiration in which he was held, that his funeral was attended 
bj Jews and Gentiles, as well as by Christians ; many of whom 
sought to touch his corpse as a preservative against the assaults 
of the Evil One. His posthumous reappearance is also stoutly 
contended for : and the following example of it is the most extra- 
ordinary on record. On the removal of the remains of two saints 
to Milan, Ambrose, some months after his death, appeared to a 
blind man of Dalmatia; and predicting the day on which the 
saints 5 remains would arrive, desired him to be present at their 
coming, in which case he would recover his sight. Baronius and 
Tillemont relate the circumstance, and add that the blind man 
recovered. 

The true character of Ambrose cannot be drawn without offence Character. 
either to custom or to truth ; all ecclesiastical historians, ancient 
or modern, Romish or Protestant, having, without any exception 

1 The strictures of Hieronymus on his style and plagiarism do not form an exception ; 
as they were incidental, and form no part of a history of Ambrose's life. 



102 ECCLESIASTICAL WEITERS OF THE EOT7BTH CENTURY. 

a.d. 346. known to us, 1 agreed in unqualified praise of it. That he was 
rigidly virtuous, exemplary in all spiritual functions, orthodox in 
doctrine, and sincerely pious, cannot be denied. Neither does it 
admit of doubt that he was in his own time the main prop, and 
was so considered by his contemporaries, of the true Catholic 
faith in the Western Church. But, that his boldness in defence 
of the faith verged upon arrogance, and his preservation of disci- 
pline on ostentation, has been sufficiently shown by his treat- 
ment of Theodosius, in the affairs of the Jewish synagogue, and 
the massacre at Thessalonica. His interference, too, with civil 
concerns, and his excitement of the secular authority to suppress 
heathenism, may, in conjunction with his haughty bearing to the 
Emperor and his assumption of miraculous power, be considered by 
some persons as the first spark of that Italian fire, the fatal effects 
of which are not within our present range as historians. 

In passing this judgment, we should not conceal that the violence 
of the times, the fury of the Arians, and the insolence of the heathen 
military, were such as could not have been surmounted by a spirit 
less bold and haughty than that of Ambrose. Nor should it 
be forgotten, that his equestrian birth and early habits of con- 
sular command, were bad teachers of the meekness and humi- 
lity, which we are too apt to expect as a mere matter of course in 
bishops, who lived in times and nations incapable of estimating 
these virtues. 

style. As a writer, Ambrose was more indefatigable than learned ; yet 

more learned than original. Suddenly and unexpectedly called from 
civil to ecclesiastical office, he preferred the matured maxims of 
the Greek fathers to his own crude lucubrations ; and in this 
he showed good sense and modesty. His style, though incorrect, 
is pleasing, and, though not always clear, abounds with point. 
He was a composer of ' Hymns,' and is understood to have been 
the first who introduced regular choral music into the Christian 
Church. 

Editions. The works of Ambrose have been frequently printed, but the 

earlier editions are very incomplete, and most of them carelessly 
and inaccurately executed. Coster's edition, (Basle, 1555,) and 
Gillo's, (Paris, 1568,) are esteemed the most correct of those 
published in the sixteenth century. A magnificent edition was pub- 
lished at Borne in six volumes, folio, 1579-1587, under the aus- 
pices of Gregory XIII. and Sixtus Y. ; but it is of little value in a 
critical point of view, the editors having taken many unwarrant- 
able liberties with the text. The Benedictine edition (Paris, 1686 
-1690, 2 vols, fol.) is much superior to all that precede, being, 
in fact, the only complete and faithful one that has hitherto 
appeared. 

Cave, ' Hist. Lit.' vol. i. pp. 261-265 ; Dupin, ' Biblioth. Cent.' 
iv. pp. 198-234 ; Tillemont, vol. x. art. ' S. Ambroise.' 



HILABIUS — DAMASUS — DIDYMTTS. 103 

HILARIUS THE DEACON. 

FLOURISHED A.D. 354-384. 

Hilary was a native of Sardinia, and a deacon of the Roman a.d. 384. 
Church, during the pontificate of Liberius. After enduring per- 
secution and exile for the Orthodox faith with great constancy, he 
became a Luciferian. He carried the exclusive system of his master 
so far as to insist upon rebaptizing all who had received heretical 
baptism ; whence he was sarcastically called by St. Jerome, ' Deu- 
calion Orbis.' It is now generally agreed that the c Qusestiones in 
Vetus et Novum Testamentum,' usually published together with 
St. Augustine's works, and the ' Commentary on St. Paul's Epis- 
tles,' commonly attributed to St. Ambrose, are in reality the pro- 
ductions of Hilary. The c Questions ' are of little value ; the 
4 Commentary,' without being remarkable for erudition or acumen, 
is a plain, literal, and tolerably faithful exposition of St. Paul's 
meaning. 

Cave, < Hist. Lit.' vol. i. p. 217 ; Dupin, ' Biblio. Cent.' iv. p. 189. 

DAMASUS. 
a.d. 366-384. 

"We have already treated of the character of Damasus, 1 and of 
the extraordinary circumstances attending his elevation to the 
pontificate. As a writer he is only known by a few epistles and 
some short poems on religious subjects. They show him not to have 
been destitute of ability, but display no great depth of erudition or 
theological knowledge. An edition of his works was published 
by Ubaldini, Eome, 1638, 4to, and reprinted at Paris, 1652, 8vo. 

The ' Liber Pontificalis,' or biographical account of the earlier 
popes of Eome, attributed to Damasus, is now universally admitted 
to be spurious. It was, nevertheless, long looked upon as an 
authentic document, and thus it became the means of introducing 
much confusion and error into the Historv of the Church. 

Cave, ' Hist. Lit.' vol. i. p. 230 ; Dupin, < Biblioth. Cent.' iv. p. 
121 ; Hieron. ' De Script. Eccles.' c. 103. 

DIDYMUS. 

a.d. 370-392. 

Didymus was a native of Alexandria, where he long exercised 
the office of a public teacher, with the highest reputation. Jerome 
and Rufinus were among the number of his pupils. Though blind 
almost from his infancy, he made an extraordinary proficiency in 
nearly every department of literature, sacred and profane. He was 

1 Chap. ii. 



104 ECCLESIASTICAL WBITEES OE THE EOTTKTH CENTURY. 

A.D, 386. a zealous Trinitarian, and at the same time a warm admirer of 
Origen, with some of whose errors he is said to have been infected. 
He wrote an infinite number of books, particularly c Commentaries 
on the Old and New Testament ;' but none of them have reached 
us, except a short treatise ' on the Holy Spirit,' another ' against 
the Manichseans,' and some brief 'Annotations on the Canonical 
Epistles,' of which the Latin verses are still extant. The first 
treatise was translated by Jerome, and is usually printed together 
with his works ; the latter two are in Canisius's 'Lectiones Antique,' 
and the ' Bibliotheca Patrum.' They are clearly and methodically 
written, and show that the author was an able and dexterous rea- 
soner, and by no means deficient in penetration. 

Cave, ' Hist. Lit.' vol. i. p. 253 ; Dupin, 'Biblioth. Cent.' iv. p. 
103 ; Hieron. ' De Script. Eccles.' c. 109. 

MACARIUS. 

There were at least two eminent Egyptian solitaries of this 
name, who lived during the latter part of the fourth century, and 
concerning whose austerities and miracles many strange and in- 
credible stories are related. A number of Greek ' Homilies,' and 
4 Discourses' are extant, bearing the name of Macarius ; but it is 
not easy to ascertain with precision by whom they were written. 
They are certainly ancient, and have every appearance of being the 
productions of some ascetic author of the fourth or fifth century. 
They contain many devout sentiments, simply and beautifully ex- 
pressed, but blended with many unscriptural notions, and a great 
deal of allegory and mysticism. 

The works attributed to Macarius were collected and published 
by Pritius, Leipsic, 1698, 8vo. A second edition was printed at 
the same place, 1714. 

Cave, ' Hist. Lit.' vol. i. p. 256 ; Dupin, ' Biblioth. Cent.' iv. pp. 
55-58 ; Tillemont, vol. vhi. art. ' Macaire.' 

PHILASTEIUS. 
a.d. 386. 

Philastrius, bishop of Brescia, was the contemporary and friend 
of Ambrose, whom he actively assisted in opposing and suppressing 
Arianism in the West. He wrote a work ' on Heresies,' still ex- 
tant, which does not give a favourable idea either of his talents 
or his acquirements. His knowledge of his subject is extremely 
limited, his reasonings are contemptible, and he betrays throughout 
an unwarrantable eagerness to magnify errors of the most harmless 
description into dangerous heresies ; he is a writer of no authority, 
and only calculated to mislead those who rely on his statements. 

The best edition of the work of Philastrius is that published by 
Fabricius, Hamburg, 1721, 8vo. 

Cave, < Hist. Lit.' vol. i. p. 276 ; Dupin, < Biblio. Cent.' iv. p. 193. 



( 105 ) 



CHAPTER IY. 

HERESIES OF THE FOURTH CENTURY. 

Mint of the sects of earlier birth, continued to retain their vigour AI) . 315, 
during the fourth century, and others arose which, unhappily, struck 
yet more permanent roots than their predecessors. The severe 
laws enacted against the Manichseans, compelled them to assume 
other names, by which, they concealed themselves for a time, but 
could not ultimately escape the vigilance of their enemies. The 
chief heresies which date their origin in this century, and demand 
notice, are as follows : — 



donattsts. 
Arians. 

Apollin arians. 
Photinians. 
Macedonians. 



Priscillianists. 

Ard^eans. 

Messalians, or Euchites. 

AnTIDICO-MARIANITES. 
COLLYRIDIANS. 



THE DOXATISTS. 



Persecution had scarcely ceased in the Western Church, and it origin, 
still raged in the East, when this new and dangerous faction arose 
in Africa. On the death of Mensurius, bishop of Carthage, a 
council of neighbouring clergy and laity was convoked, for the ap- 
pointment of a successor. The assembly was less numerously at- 
tended than usual, through the management of Botrus and Celesius, 
two presbyters, who aspired to the vacant dignity. Both these com- csecman 
petitors, however, were disappointed, and the election fell on Csecilian ^hop of 
the deacon. All the forms essential to the canonical appointment of Carthage. 
a bishop were observed, and Csecilian had confessedly the suffrage 
of the whole Church. Nevertheless the two defeated candidates pro- 
tested against the validity of the election, on the ground that the 
subsequent consecration of Csecilian was performed without the 
concurrence of the Numidian bishops. They were joined in their 
opposition by Lucilla, a rich and powerful lady, who had been 
reprimanded formerly by Csecilian for her superstitious practices, 
but who was too haughty to submit to ecclesiastical censures. 1 
Animated by the representations of Botrus and Celesius, and swayed, 
it is said, by the bribery of Lucilla, the bishops of Numidia, assem- 
bling at Carthage, summoned Csecilian before them. Secundus, 
bishop of Tigisis, and the Numidian primate, presided in the assem- 
bly, and Csecilian refusing to submit to its judgment, was declared 
unworthy of the episcopal office, and formally deposed. Seventy Csec-man 
prelates concurred in the deposition, and with the same unanimity depose(L 

1 Schisma igitur illo tempore confusae mulieris iracundia peperit : ambitus nutrivit : 
avaritia roboravit. Optat. Hist. lib. i. c. 19. 



106 



HERESIES OP THE EOTJRTH CEXTTTRY. 



Name of 
Donatists 
■whence 
derived. 



a.d. 313. the j elected, in the place of the degraded prelate, Majorinus, a 
domestic of Lucilla. 

Two important reasons were urged by the Numidian prelates to 
justify this violent measure ; first, that Felix of Aptungus, the 
chief of the bishops who assisted at the consecration, was a traditor, 
or one who in the time of persecution had apostatized from the 
Christian faith ; secondly, that Csecilian, in the subordinate office 
of a deacon, had displayed harshness, and even cruelty, towards the 
Christian confessors and martyrs in the time of persecution. 

If, however, Csecilian had been consecrated by a traditor, it is 
equally certain that a number of the bishops who undertook to 
depose him, were liable to the same imputation. Xo one was more 
active in the affair than Donatus, bishop of Casa Nigra, who had 
always been known as a schismatic, and a man of vehement and 
unruly temper. From him, according to the best authorities, the 
faction of the Donatists derived its name ; for this disgrace has 
been divided between Donatus, bishop of Casa Nigra, and Donatus, 
the successor of Majorinus in the see of Carthage. Of a question 
of such trivial importance, the probable solution may be offered, 
that the Donatists were so called from both. 1 

The deposition of Csecilian was far from obtaining general 
acquiescence. He had a considerable number of adherents, and 
the sentence of the Numidian bishops was brought before Con- 
stantine the Great, with a view to its revision and reversal. No 
sooner had that Emperor professed Christianity, than he exercised 
a supreme power in ecclesiastical matters, and the appeal of Csecilian 
was accepted by Constantine. He referred the decision of the ques- 
tion to Melchiades, bishop of Rome, assisted by Eeticius, Maternus, 
and Marinus, three bishops of Gaul. Three days were consumed 
in the investigation, and the result was favourable to Csecilian. He 
was entirely and honourably acquitted of the crimes laid to his 
charge, and the Synod decreed that he should be reinstated in the 
dignity of which he had been unjustly deprived. 

Such a decree, it may be supposed, was received with disgust 
and indignation by the Donatists with the Bishop of Casa Nigra 
at their head. The small number of bishops associated with Mel- 
chiades, excited in a particular manner then reproaches, and even 
their contempt. They looked upon the decision of seventy Numi- 
dian prelates as infinitely more weighty than that pronounced by 
the bishops at Borne, who, besides their inferiority in point of 
numbers, were unacquainted with African affairs. Constantine, 
willing to remove these complaints, ordered a second and a far 
more numerous council to meet at Aries, composed of bishops from 
various provinces, from Italy, Gaul, Germany, and Spain. 

1 See Valesius, de Schismate Donatistarum, commonly appended to Euseb. Eccles. 
Hist. This tract relates the progress of the heresy till the Council of Nice, a.d. 
325. 



Cascilian re 
instated by 
a Synod at 
Rome. 



Ian. 



celliones. 



THE DONATISTS. 107 

While the council was sitting at Aries, an inquiry was instituted a.d. 314. 
in Africa, under iElian the proconsul, concerning the accusation The decree 
brought against Aptungus, the prelate by whom Caecilian had been £y n a s^oa 
consecrated, and these were decided to be without foundation. At |J 6 A ^ e c |'- D t D ' 
Aries, likewise, the Donatists were defeated, but they renewed the' Emperor 
their efforts by appealing to the personal decision of the Emperor. ^muT 
Constantine examined the whole affair at Milan in the presence of 
the contending parties, and confirmed the decrees which the two 
preceding councils had pronounced. 

Nothing remained to the discomfited Donatists but to load the 
Emperor with the bitterest reproaches, and the most unfounded 
accusations of interested partiality towards Caecilian. Constantine, 
incensed at their conduct, deprived them of their churches, and 
sent their factious bishops into banishment. He carried his 
resentment so far as to put some of them to death ; a proceeding 
which aggravated their discontent into actual rebellion. 

The consequent commotions gave rise to a formidable con- The circum- 
federacy of ruffians, distinguished as a branch of the Donatist 
faction, and known by the name of Circumcelliones. They were a 
mere banditti, who valued their own lives as little as those of their 
neighbours, and were remarkable for committing suicide in their 
frenzv. This san^uinarv and fearless sect filled Africa with 
slaughter and rapine, and perpetrated the most wanton acts of 
cruelty against the followers of Csecilian. It daily acquired 
strength, and seemed to threaten a civil war, till Constantine, 
having tried every mode of accommodation, abolished the laws 
which had been enacted against the Donatists, and allowed the people 
a full liberty of adhering to that party which they preferred. 

But the flame of discord burst forth with renewed fury after the 
death of Constantine ; and his son Constans, to whom Africa was 
allotted in the division of the Empire, found it necessary to have 
recourse to arms. Donatus, the successor of Majorinus, surnamed 
most inappropriately the Great, opposed all attempts at reconcilia- 
tion, and the Circumcelliones continued to extend their power by 
assassinations and massacres, executed with the most unrelenting 
fury. Their lawless and bloody career was at length stopped by 
Macarius, a general of Constans. A battle took place at Bagnia, 
in which the Donatists were defeated ; a great number saved 
themselves by flight, and, except a few who submitted, the 
remainder were slaughtered or made prisoners. The captives were 
punished with the utmost severity, numbers were sent into banish- 
ment, and among the exiles was Donatus himself, the chief author 
of the schismatical rebellion. 

It is impossible to vindicate the rigorous treatment shown 
towards the Donatists under the government of Constans, however 
atrocious might have been their conduct. Optatus, the Catholic 
historian, and a firm defender of Orthodoxy, though he imputes the 



108 



HEBESIES OP THE EOUETH CEXTUEY. 



a.d. 362. sufferings of the sect principally to its own malignancy, confesses that 
the proceedings against it were too severe to admit of excuse. 

During thirteen years the Donatists remained under persecution, 
hut with the accession of Julian a more favourable prospect was 
opened to their view. The exiles were permitted to return to their 
country, and the sect exercised its worship without molestation. 
This lenity infused vigour into the expiring faction, and in a short 
time the larger part of the province of Africa submitted to its 
discipline, or rather to its despotism. In Numidia its predomin- 
ance was decided, and four hundred bishops acknowledged the 
superiority of the Donatist Primate. 
Divisions of Before we speak of the tenets of the Donatists, it is necessary 
the Donatists £ p rem i se that there were several divisions of the sect. The 
Circumcelliones have been already mentioned, and they ought to 
be considered as the military force of the faction, which by its 
jDractices demonstrated the erroneous opinions of the speculative 
Donatists. The Circumcelliones strengthened the cause, but there 
were other intestine dissensions which weakened it. A fourth part 
of the Donatist prelates followed the standard of Maxiinin, and a 
large body was distinguished by the name of Eogatians. 
Their tenets. The tenets of the Donatists were conformable to those of the 
Catholic Church, according to the acknowledgment of their 
adversaries, and the testimony of their most active and able 
opponent, Augustine, afterwards the celebrated bishop of Hippo. 1 
Thev differed from the Church onlv concerning a matter of fact, 
namely, whether Caecilian had been legally consecrated. But the 
denial of this legality led them into many practical errors. They 
asserted that the Apostolical succession throughout Christendom 
was interrupted ; that all the bishops of Europe and Asia were 
infected by the contagion of guilt or schism ; and that the 
privileges of the Christian Church were confined exclusively to 
themselves. This erroneous and rigid theory was supported by a 
correspondent conduct. The} 7 : pronounced the sacred rites and 
institutions of all other Christians to be devoid of virtue and 
efficacy. They not only rebaptized their proselytes, but obliged 
those who had been already ordained ministers of the gospel, to be 
ordained a second time. Bishops and infants were alike submitted 
to the disgrace of a public penance before admission into their 
communion. If they obtained possession of a church which had 
been used by their Catholic adversaries, they purified the unhallowed 
temple with jealous care. They burned the altar, melted the con- 
secrated plate, and cast the holy eucharist to the dogs, with all 
possible ignominy. 
Conduct of Among the other public and private labours of Augustine, his 
toJwSStte opposition to the Donatists cannot be passed over in silence. It 

Donatists. 

1 See his Letters to the Donatists, especially Lett. 48^ 50, 61, 127. 



THE AEIANS. 109 

is notorious that they had a peculiar malice against the pastors of a.d. 362. 
the Catholic Church, and that this malice vented itself in open 
violence. Augustine himself was several times waylaid hy these 
miserable men, and on one occasion escaped an ambush which they 
had placed for him, only through the mistake of his guide, by 
whom he was led into a different road from that which he had 
intended to travel. An excuse, though not a justification, may be 
offered for the measures of severity against these factious heretics, 
of which he was the advocate and the adviser. On account of 
their enormities, the imperial court issued several edicts for the 
imposition of fines on the Donatists, and the infliction of banish- 
ment on their bishops. These edicts Augustine vindicated in his 
writings, and strenuously urged the justice and expediency of 
repressing the Donatists by the civil sword. But candour requires 
the historian to state, that Donatism received its death-blow 
rather from the charitable persuasions and powerful arguments of 
Augustine, than from the penal laws of the imperial court. The 
sect gradually dwindled into insignificance, and as its extension 
was partial, its duration was not permanent. 1 

THE AKIASTS. 

BRANCHES. — SEMI-AEIAXS — ACACIANS — EUNOMIANS — EXOCOMTIAXS — 
DUIilANI PSATHTRIANS. 

Whether we consider the number, learning, and influence of its a.d. 300. 
adherents, or the speciousness and subtlety of its tenets, the Arian Arian. 
heresy claims a more distinguished rank than any other in the 
history of heterodoxy. It began to disturb and divide the Church 
soon after the conversion of Constantine, and who, even in the 
present age, can assign the period of its suppression ? 

Its author Arius was first a deacon, and afterwards a presbyter Account of 
in the Church of Alexandria, and Libya was the province of his Anus 
birth, as it was the birth-place of Sabellius. 2 He was first known 
as a partizan of Meletius, an Egyptian bishop, who had created a 
schism in the Church but without any corruption of doctrine. 
His adherence to the Meletian party was of short continuance, for 
he was reconciled to Peter, the bishop of Alexandria, and was by 
that prelate ordained a deacon. But his pertinacity in allowing 
the validity of Meletian baptism drew on him the censure of Peter, 
and he was again expelled from the communion of the Catholic 
Church. 3 

Peter, soon after the expulsion of Arius, suffered martyrdom in 

1 The principal writers on the heresy of the Donatists are Optatus, bishop of 
Milevi, whose copious History was written against Parmenius, one of their bishops ; 
Hen. Valesius, Dissert, de Schism. Donatistarum ; and Long, in a curious Tract, 
Hist, of the Donatists, 1677. 

2 A description of the figure and manners of Arius is given by Epiphanius, Haeres. 69. 
3 Socrat. Hist. lib. i. c. 6. 



110 



EEEESIES OP THE FOURTH CEXTTTRT. 



A.D.313. 



Origin of 
the Allan 
heresy. 



Alexander, 
hishop of 
Alexandria. 



Is opposed 
by Arius. 



Arms is con- 
demned in a 
Synod at 
Alexandria. 



Progress of 
Arianism. 



the Diocletian Persecution, and was succeeded in the see of 
Alexandria by Achillas. To the new bishop, Arius offered such a 
satisfactory explanation of his conduct, that he was advanced to 
the rank of a presbyter. The episcopate of Achillas was of short 
duration, and soon after the conversion of Constantine, Alexander 
was promoted to the important station, contrary, it is alleged, to 
the expectation of Arius, who aspired to the dignity. 1 

The erudition, the eloquence, and the morals of Arius have 
commanded the reluctant acknowledgment of his powerful and 
implacable adversaries. But historians have differed as to his 
motives, whether his heresy originated in a sincere conviction of 
the truth of his opinions or in personal resentment against his 
bishop. It is equally undecided, whether the beginning of the 
controversy should be attributed to Arius or to Alexander. Yet 
all accounts agree that the temper of Alexander was cool and 
cautious ; and therefore it may be presumed, that unless Arius had 
given some provocation by the boldness and activity with which 
he disseminated his peculiar tenets, the bishop of Alexandria would 
not have formally and authoritatively condemned them, neither 
would he have dogmatically promulgated his own opinions on a 
subject so abstruse as that of the blessed Trinity. 2 

In an assembly of the presbyters, Alexander maintained, among 
other things, that the Son was not only of the same eminence and 
dignity, but of the same essence with the Father. 3 This assertion 
was censured by Arius as being an approximation to Sabellianisin. 
He eagerly espoused the opposite extreme, and said, " If the Father 
begat the Son, the begotten had a beginning of existence ; hence 
it is evident, that there was a time when he was not." 4 Many 
of the assembled clergy sided with the Presbyter in opposition to 
the Bishop ; and no sooner were the opinions of Arius divulged 
than they found in Egypt and the neighbouring province a multi- 
tude of converts. 

But Alexander, seated in the chair of authority, instituted a 
solemn and public investigation of the controversy. Having 
already exhibited himself as a disputant, he now assumed the 
office of a judge. He convened a Synod at Alexandria, in which 
the doctrines of Arius were condemned, and the heretic himself, 
with nine of his adherents, were expelled from the communion of 
the Church. 5 

The sentence of the Alexandrian Synod was received by Arius 
with an undaunted mind. He retired into Palestine, and from 
this retreat wrote letters to the most eminent men of his times, 



1 According to the principal Arian historian, he declined the episcopal throne. 
Philostorgius, lib. i. c. 3. 

2 Sozomen, lib. i. c. 15. Socrat. lib. i. c. 5. 

3 'O/AOTifMov tov Tlocr^os, xa,) r^v uvty/v ovtriuv £££/*• Theodoret, lib. i. c. 11. 

4 Socrat. lib. i. c. 5. 5 Sozomen, lib. i. c. 15. 



THE AEIA^S. Ill 

in defence of his conduct. So great was his success, that he could a.d. 324. 
reckon among his immediate followers, two bishops of Egypt, seven 
presbyters, and twelve deacons. A majority of Asiatic bishops 
soon declared in his favour, and among these Eusebius of 
Nicomedia, a man distinguished for his influence. 1 On the other 
hand, Alexander, in repeated epistles and public appeals, maintained 
the justice of the proceedings against his refractory and contu- 
macious presbyter. 2 

The Emperor Constantine at first regarded this controversy as Conduct of 
a matter of no political or religious importance, and contented 
himself with an attempt to suppress it, by recommending to both 
parties mutual concession. He wrote to both Alexander and 
Arius, and after censuring each, advised a reconciliation. He also 
employed the mediation of Hosius, bishop of Corduba, who ineffec- 
tually laboured to promote peace between the disputants. 3 

When the Emperor saw that his admonitions and remonstrances Council of 
were unavailing, and that the commotions too frequently the 
consequence of theological disputes were spreading throughout the 
Empire, he adopted other methods, and the famous Council of Nice 
met in obedience to his command, a.d. 325. The bishops assembled 
from all parts of the Christian world at Nice, in Bithynia, and 
their number, according to the testimony of Athanasius, who was 
present, amounted to three hundred and eighteen. They were 
transported to the place of meeting in public conveyances, 
at the Emperor's expense, and were maintained at his cost ; 
and to add dignity to the proceedings, Constantine himself was 
present. 4 

High, but not more than merited, praise has been bestowed on 
the temper of Constantine at this Council. 5 He exhorted the vener- 
able fathers to peace and unanimity; and a number of mutual 
accusations having been presented to him, he consigned them to 
the fire, protesting that he had not read one of them. After this 
magnanimous action he gave permission for immediate delibera- 
tion. The doctrines of Arius were minutely canvassed, and the 
disputable propositions contained in his writings were argued with 
great warmth. Constantine acted as moderator, and endeavoured 
to bring the parties to some agreement, but his endeavours were 
vain. After several keen debates, the Orthodox party expressed 

1 The epistle of Arius to Eusebius of Nicomedia, representing his own opinions and 
conduct, is preserved by Theodoret, lib. i. c. 5. 

2 Sozomen, lib. i. c. 15. 

3 Euseb. Vit. Constant, lib. ii. c. 64-72. 

4 No part of the History of the Church has been written with such negligence, or 
passed over with such rapidity as the Council of Nice. — Mosheim. The history of 
this Council was written by Marathus the Syrian, but his work is lost. The accounts 
which the Eastern writers give of this Council have been collected by Kemandot, 
History of the Patriarchs of Alexandria, p. 69. 

5 Constantine is called the political, Hosius of Corduba the ecclesiastical, president 
of the Nicene Council. Spanheim, Hist. Sac. iv. 



112 



HEEESIES OT THE EOUETH CEUTUBY. 



a.d. 325, 



The Honio- 
ousion. 



Xicene 
Creed. 



The Homoi- 
ousion of the 
Arians. 



Athanasius, 
bishop of 
Alexandria. 



Constantine 
relents in fa 
vour of the 
Arians. 



its collective opinion on the controversy in the follovring manner. 
The different passages of Scripture which attest the divinity of the 
Son of God having been selected, a conclusion was drawn, that 
these passages taken together amounted to a proof that the Son 
was of the same SUB stance with the Father ; and the epithet 
r OMOOT2I02 3 derived from the Platonic school, was adopted into 
the Nicene Confession, 1 

Eusebius of Xicomedia. the great patron of the Arians, wrote a 
letter to the Council in which he censured the notion that the Son 
was uncreated ; and the Arians drew up a written confession of 
their faith. Both these documents were pronounced by the Coun- 
cil to be heretical. Hosius of Corduba was appointed to chaw up 
a creed, which in substance is the same as that which at this day 
is called the Nicene Creed. It soon received the sanction of the 
Council, and of Constantine himself, who declared that such as 
refused to comply with its decrees must prepare themselves for 
immediate exile. 

Alius was deposed, excommunicated, and forbidden from entering 
Alexandria. The minority who were attached to Arianism at first 
refused to subscribe the Nicene Confession, but being persuaded by 
Constantia, the Emperor's sister, and a patroness of Alius, they at 
length consented. But by the insertion of a single letter 2 the 
Arians reserved to themselves their own sense, subscribing that 
the Son is f o:\IOIOT2I05, not of the same but of a similar essence 
with the Father. 3 There were two. however, out of twenty-two 
Arian bishops who would not join in this act of duplicity. These 
were Secundus of Ptolemais and Theonas of Marmarica, the former 
of whom bluntly reproved the courtly Eusebius of Xicomedia for 
his dishonesty. The Arian prelate did not escape by his com- 
pliance ; for three months after the dissolution of the Council he 
was banished by the imperial order for secretly attempting to 
support the Arian cause. 

The see of Alexandria was vacated by the death of Alexander 
within a few months after his return from the Nicene Council, 
and the integrity as well as the abilities of the famous Athanasius 
pointed him out as the proper successor. At that time he was 
not above twenty-eight years of age, and he sat forty-six years in 
the episcopal chair of Alexandria. His whole episcopate was a 
combat with Arianism, conducted with unremitted zeal, but with 
unequal success. 

Three years had scarcely elapsed since the Council of Nice, be- 
fore Constantine, prevailed upon by his favourite sister Constantia, 

1 Athanasius shows that this epithet is the discriminative mark of the orthodox 
faith, in contradistinction to Arianism. of which the grand tenet is, that the Sod is 
ETEP00Y2I02. Epist. de Nicaen. Synod. Decretis." 

2 And that letter an iota. 

3 This duplicity of the Arians is recorded by their own historian. I -i* 15 * 
See Cave, Life of "Athanasius. 



THE AJBIAJTS. 113 

discovered some sentiments of indulgence towards the sect which a.d. 328. 
he had proscribed, It was suggested to him that Alius and his 
friends were unjustly treated, and Constantia on her death-bed 
implored that their sentence might be mitigated or reversed. 
Constantine complied with a request thus solemnly preferred. 
He recalled Alius from exile, repealed the laws which had been 
enacted against his followers, and restored Eusebius of Nicomedia 
to the episcopal throne from which he had been ignominiously 
degraded. 1 

An epistle from Eusebius to Athanasius demanded rather than Athanaans 
solicited the readmission of Alius into the communion of the store Arias. " 
Church, and restoration to his former rank. But the Bishop of 
Alexandria, firm in his purpose, and deaf to the most powerful 
entreaties, perseveringly refused. The Arians, determined on the 
ruin of their opponents, procured the deposition and banishment of 
the three principal leaders of the Catholics, Eustathius of Antioch, 
Paul of Constantinople, and above all Athanasius. A Synod was Synod of 
convened at Tyre, by the Emperor's command, not to examine the S,^, 
speculative principles, but the moral crirnes of the Bishop of Alex- 
andria. He was accused of rebellion, cruelty, unchastity, and even 
murder. Notwithstanding the most convincing proofs of his inno- 
cence, his enemies prevailed. He sought safety in flight, and by 
a judicial sentence he was degraded from his bishopric. In vain 
did he appeal to Constantine, and solicit a fair trial. His invete- First Danish- 
rate enemy, Eusebius of Xicomedia, infused the most unfounded Athanasius. 
calumnies into the mind of the Emperor, and Athanasius was 
banished to Treves in Gaul. 2 

Elated with success, Alius returned to Alexandria ; but the tide- ^ nni of 
lity of the people to the principles and person of their exiled Bishop * 
was shown by a refusal to receive the heresiarch into his place 
among the presbyters. Constantine commanded him to repair to 
Constantinople ; but its bishop, Alexander, hesitated to receive him 
as a sound member of the Catholic Church. Constantine again, 
previously to his admission, required him to prove his orthodoxy 
by subscription to the Nicene decrees, confirmed by an oath, 3 and 
Alius readily agreed to the requisition. In the meantime Alexan- 
der, prostrate before the altar, and attended only by Macarius, a 
presbyter belonging to Athanasius, offered the most fervent sup- 
plications for guidance from Heaven in this difficult conjuncture. 
The imperial decree was delivered, commanding him to receive 
Alius into the Church on the next day ; and the pious Bishop im- 
plored God, that if Alius was right, he himself might not live to 
see the day of contest ; but that if his own faith were true, Alius 
might suffer the just punishment of his profaneness. The next 
day appeared to be a day of triumph for Arianism. Its chief par- 

1 Sozomen, lib. ii. c. 16, 27. 2 Cave. Life of Athanasius. 3 Sec-rat. lib. i.c.8, 

I 



114 



HEEESIES OF THE EOTTETH CE2s'TUET. 



A.D. 342. 



Death of 
A rius, 
a.d. 336. 



Death of 

Constantine, 
a.d. 337. 



Recall of 
Athanasius, 
a.d. 338. 



Synod of 
Antioch, 
a.d. 341. 



Athanasius 
withdraws to 

Rome, 
a.d. 342. 



tizans paraded the streets, with their leader in the midst ; but 
when the procession approached the forum of Constantine, a sud- 
den terror, with a disorder of the intestines, seized Arius ; he re- 
tired from the crowd, and expired in a manner which it has been 
disingenuously insinuated must be attributed either to poison or 
to a miracle. 1 

What effect this awful event produced on the mind of Constan- 
tine does not appear, for he died shortly after. He was succeeded 
by his three sons, Constantine, Constantius, and Constans ; the 
first of whom ruled in Spain and Graul, the second in the East, and 
the third in Africa. Of the elder son little is known, but that 
little is laudable. He sent back Athanasius from his place of 
exile with every mark of respect, and declared that by so doing he 
only fulfilled the intentions of his father. Thus, after a banish- 
ment of two years and four months, 2 the distinguished Bishop 
returned from Treves to Alexandria, where he was received with 
general acclamations. 

The death of the younger Constantine exposed Athanasius to a 
second persecution ; for Constantius, the sovereign of the eastern 
part of the empire, provoked at the election of Paul to the see of 
Constantinople, took the Arian party under his protection. 3 Ninety 
bishops of that sect, instigated by the Nicomedian, Eusebius, and 
supported by the Emperor, assembled at Antioch, under the spe- 
cious pretence of dedicating the cathedral. They composed a 
creed verging towards Arianism, 4 and erected twenty-five canons 
favourable to orthodoxy. One of these canons decided, with an 
appearance of equity, that any bishop deprived by a synod 
should not resume his episcopal functions till he had been ab- 
solved by the sentence of an equal synod. The rule was imme- 
diately applied to the person against whom it was made ; the 
degradation of Athanasius by a former Council of Tyre was con- 
firmed ; a stranger named Gregory was placed on the episcopal 
throne of Alexandria ; and Philagrius, the Egyptian prsefect, was 
instructed to support the usurper with the civil and military 
powers of the province. 

Oppressed by this conspiracy of the Asiatic prelates, Athanasius, 
though he wanted neither courage nor capacity to make a formid- 
able resistance, withdrew from the place of contention to Rome. 



1 Athanasius has recorded the death of Arius, but without attempting to stigmatize 
his memory. His account is confirmed by Socrates and Sozomen. Might not the 
secondary cause of the death of Arius be ascribed to mental agitation? The spot in 
which Arius met his death was memorable to posterity, and shown in the times of 
Socrates. Lib. i. c. 8. 

Thcodoret, lib. xi. c. 1. Valesius maintains that the 



2 E 



ty) ova z.vA /j,y,vo!.s r->rirK^a.i 



banishment of Athanasius to Treves lasted not quite two years. 

3 Socrat. lib. c. c. 2. Sozomen, lib. iii. c. 18. 

* There were not less than four formulae promulged by this council. Sozomen, 
lib. iii. c.o. 



THE ASIANS. 115 

There lie passed a considerable time, 1 and assiduously devoted him- a.d. 350. 
self to the study of the Lathi language. He was thus qualified to 
negotiate with the Western clergy, and Julius, the Roman pontiff, 
was induced to protect and espouse his cause. Fifty Italian bishops 
declared the innocence and the orthodoxy of the persecuted Atha- 
nasius. During this his second exile, he was frequently admitted 
into the imperial presence, and he exhorted Constans to emulate 
the glory of his father by repudiating the errors of his brother. 

By the joint order of the two brothers, a Council met at Sar- Council of 
dica, in Illyria, a city seated on the borders of their respective a.». 347! 
dominions. Its object was to promote union, but in effect it placed 
the two parties at a greater distance from each other than before. 
The doctrine of the Trinity was treated as a matter of speculation, 
and each party therefore retired unconvinced and unreconciled. 
Hosius of Corduba, the venerable president of the Council of Xice, 
presided here also, and the cause of Athanasius and of orthodoxy 
was once more triumphant. Constans declared his resolution of 
supporting orthodoxy by the arms and treasure of Europe, and 
signified in a concise and peremptory epistle to his brother Con- 
stantine his demand that Athanasius should be reinstated in the 
see of Alexandria. 

The timely compliance of Constantine averted an appeal to arms, 
and the Emperor of the East condescended to sue for a reconcilia- 
tion with the exiled primate. Athanasius waited till he had re- 
ceived three successive epistles, full of gracious assurances ; and he 
then quitted Rome and travelled to Antioch, in which city Con- 
stantius was at that time resident. The Emperor observed, that 
as Athanasius was to be put in possession of all the Egyptian 
churches, he ought to leave one at Alexandria for the Arians. The 
primate confessed the proposal to be just, on condition that the 
same indulgence should be granted to his own party at Antioch 
and the other cities of the empire. The Arians, however, sensible . 
of their superior popularity, forbore to press the proposition. 2 

A triumphal procession graced the return of Athanasius to his Return of 
own city, in which absence and persecution had endeared him to ^ Sexan? 
its inhabitants, and a number of his enemies retracted and gave dria > rt 
an honourable testimony to his Christian virtues. His authority 
was more firmly established than ever, and his fame was diffused 
throughout the whole Christian world. 

Though the tragical death of Constans deprived Athanasius of Death of 
a powerful friend, yet a civil war between his assassin and his only A .D n m s ' 
surviving brother secured an interval of repose to the Church. 

1 There are insuperable chronological difficulties respecting the residence of Atha- 
nasius at Rome. They are stated by Valesius, Observ. Oper, torn. ii. Hist. Eccles. 
lib. i. c. 1-5. 

2 Socrat. lib. ii. c. 18. Sozomen, lib. hi. c. 19. Theodoret, lib. ii. c. 11, 12. Phi- 
lostorgius, lib. iii. c. 12. 



116 



HEBE SEES OE THE FOURTH CEXTTJBT. 



A.D. 356, 



Councils of 
Aries and 
Milan, 
a.d. 353. 



Second ba- 
nishment of 
Athanasius. 



Compliance 
of Liberius 
and Hosius. 



Both the contending aspirants to the vacant throne courted the 
friendship of the Alexandrian primate, but unhappily Athanasius 
embraced the cause of Magnentius, the murderer of Constans. 
Constantius, however, was the victor, and on the first winter after 
his victory he resolved to consummate the ruin of a man whom he 
hated or feared more than the vanquished tyrant of Gaul. 1 

The customary mode of convening a synod was adopted by the 
Emperor, and two successive Councils met at Aries and Milan: 
They were held in the presence of the Emperor, who proposed to 
the assembly at Milan an Arian creed, which he recommended by 
the argument, that Grod had declared in its favour, by the late 
victory conferred on himself. Several bishops 2 had the courage to 
answer that the Nicene faith had always been the faith of the 
Church, and the people rejected the creed which Constantius pre- 
scribed. But the condemnation of Athanasius was pressed with 
greater success ; remonstrance was silenced by the alternative of 
obedience or exile ; and the majority of the bishops were compelled 
or seduced to subscribe an instrument deposing him from his 
bishopric. 

Again was Athanasius an outcast from Alexandria, and his 
expulsion was executed with a violence correspondent to its 
injustice. His place was usurped by the infamous George of 
Cappadocia ; and the excellent Bishop, after exhibiting traits of 
heroism scarcely ever surpassed, found a retreat in the deserts of 
Thebais. 3 To enlarge on his dangerous and romantic adventures 
would far exceed the limits prescribed to us ; but it is fit to 
mention, that even in his inaccessible retirement he carried on his 
opposition against the Arians. Adversity could neither change 
the principles nor bend the spirit of Athanasius. 4 

The persecution of Constantius was not confined to a single 
prelate or a single province ; and some of its victims were destitute 
of the firmness of Athanasius. The resolution of Liberius and 
Hosius was subdued by the hardships of exile and imprisonment. 
The former purchased his release by some criminal compliances, 
for which he afterwards expressed a sincere contrition. The fall 
of the venerable Hosius is a remarkable instance of human in- 

1 Theodoret, lib. ii. c. 16. The emperor declared that he was more desirous to sub- 
due Athanasius than he had been to vanquish Magnentius or Sylvanus. 

2 Lucifer, bishop of Cagliari in Sardinia, and Eusebius, bishop of Vercelli in Italy. 
Dionysius, bishop of Milan, refused to subscribe an Anti-Nicene confession. Hosius 
of Corduba was detained a year at Sirmium by the emperors command. Hilary of 
Poitiers mentions with indignation the bribes offered to seduce the members of the 
council. He said of Constantius, "Non dorsa caedit, sed ventrem palpat." Hilar. 
contra Constant, c. 5. Liberius, bishop of Rome, defended the Nicene doctrine at 
this Council. 

3 Hinc jam toto orbe profugus Athanasius nee ullus ei tutus ad latendum supererat 
locus. Tribuni, Prsefecti, Comites, exercitus quoque ad pervestigandum eum moventur 
Edictis Imperialibus ; uraemia delatoribus proponuntur si quis eum vivum, si id minus 
caput certe Athanasii detulisset. Rufin. lib. l. c. 16. 

4 Cave, Life of Athanasius. 



THE AKIAXS. 117 

firmity, which awakens compassion rather than censure. He had a.d. 362. 
suffered confinement for a year, joined with the infliction of 
corporal torture; he had reached the extraordinary age of 100 
years, when both persuasion and violence were employed in 
extorting his reluctant signature to an Arian Confession of Faith : 
but neither menace nor entreaty could induce him to subscribe to 
the condemnation of Athanasius. 1 

The fall of Liberius and Hosius reflected greater lustre on those 
bishops whose fidelity remained unshaken, and the persecution of 
so many virtuous men excited the discontent of all Christians, 
except those who were blindly devoted to the Arian faction. On 
the death of Constantius, therefore, the strength and influence Death of 
of the Arian party were considerably diminished. George of a,d. 36L 
Alexandria, having been murdered by the pagans of that city, 
Athanasius, in the following vear, ventured to return openlv to his Athanasius 

- _ . ^ •/ * * it/ returns to "h is 

bishopric. The Arians were then obliged to hold their meetings Bishopric, 
in private houses, and the general voice of the people was in favour A,D * 362, 
of the Athanasian and Nicene doctrine. 

Not long, however, was the Primate allowed to enjoy security. 
He had already suffered from the Christian heresy of Constantius, 
he was now to suffer from the pagan infidelity of Julian. 2 He 
was obliged, therefore, to leave Alexandria a third time ; but he withdraws a 

third time 

had no sooner heard of the death of Julian, than he suddenly 
reappeared, equally to the surprise and joy of his flock. A letter §^5^Sh of 
from Jovian confirmed him in his office, 3 and the new Emperor Julian. 
having declared in favour of the Nicene doctrine, all the Western, 
with a considerable part of the Eastern provinces abjured the 
Arian system. 

The scene once more changed during; the life of Athanasius, J£. e ^^ 

. & xri • -I a aiens. 

when Valentrnian and his brother Yalens were raised to the 
Empire. Yalentinian adhered to the decrees of the Nicene Council, 
and hence the whole Arian sect, with the exception of a few. 
Churches, was extirpated in the West. Yalens, on the other hand, 
favoured the Arians, and the Nicenians were exposed to many 
severe trials in the Eastern provinces. At the solicitation of 
Eudoxius, bishop of Constantinople, this Emperor issued a mandate, 
commanding that all the bishops who had been deposed in the 
reign of Constantius should be expelled from their churches. By 
virtue of this order, Tatian, the governor of Alexandria, vainly TOtiSraws 
attempted to drive Athanasius from that city ; but the Primate from Aiex- 
voluntarily withdrew himself a fourth time, and found a place of fourth time. 
concealment in the sepulchre of his father. 4 His last banishment 

1 The life of Hosius is contained in the Works of Tillemont, torn. viL 

2 "I order Athanasius to leave the city on the receipt of my letter." Jul. Epist. 
26. "That such an intriguer should preside over the people is dangerous, one who 
deserves not the name of a man." Jul, Epist. 51. 

3 Opera, Athanas. v. i. Bleterie, Life of Jovian. 

4 Theodoretj lib. iv. c. 12. Cave, Life of Athanasius. 



118 



HEEESIES OF THE EOUETH CENTURY. 



a.d. 374. was short, for Valens, dreading popular discontent, commanded 
him to be recalled, and no persuasion of the Arian party could 
induce the Emperor to offer any further molestation. Athanasius 

Death. died at Alexandria in honour and peace, 1 and with his death the 

earty history of Arianism will properly terminate. 

Arian sects. The hostility of the Arians to the Catholic doctrine would have 
been more dangerous to the Church if the members of their sect 
had not formed divisions among themselves. Not less than 
eighteen modifications of the Arian creed are in existence ; but 
the divisions of Arianism itself are reducible to three classes : 1. 
the genuine or primitive Arians ; 2. the Semi-arians ; 3. the 
Acacians, who are known under other appellations. 

Arian tenets. 1- The tenets of pure Arianism, according to the representations 
of Athanasius, Hilary, Basil, and Epiphanius, together with the 
historians Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret, are these : Christ is 
G-od, but inferior to the Father, in regard to His divinity, sub- 
stance, properties, and dignity. Christ is a creature, whose 
existence had a beginning, but He was created out of nothing, 
before the foundation of the world. Christ, of consequence, is 
God,'by the will of the Father, not by nature, but by adoption, 
yet made after the express likeness of the Creator : Christ is, 
therefore, of a different essence from the Father; He is not 
co-eternal with the Father, because He is begotten ; He is not 
co-equal nor consubstantial with the Father. The Holy Ghost is 
not God, but a creature of the Son, inferior to the Son as well as 
the Father, but co-operating with both in the work of creation. 

2. The Semi-arians, it is said, maintained the Son to be ouakaiog, 
i.e. similar to the Father in essence, not by nature but by a 
peculiar privilege. 

3. There were some who took a middle course, and contented 
themselves with asserting simply, that the Son is like to the 
Father, without any specification of properties or substance. The 
head of this sect was Acacius, the successor of Eusebius in the see 
of Csesarea, but Acacius is said to have retracted this opinion, 
and to have subscribed the Catholic doctrine at the Synod of 
Antioch. 

Kunomians. The Eunomians and Exocontians may be comprehended under 

Exocontians. the first class. Eunomius w r as a disciple of Aetius, a deacon of the 
Church of Antioch, expelled on account of his heresy, and whose 
followers were called Aetians. Exocontian is a synonyme of Arian, 
because the Arians maintained that Christ was created gg &* fora*, 

Eusebians. i.e. before the beginning of things. Eusebius also, bishop of 
Nicomedia, has given his name to a branch of the Arian sect. 

Duiiani. The Semi-arians were also called Duliani, because they affirmed 

1 Gregory of Nazianzen has praised Athanasius in a single sentence more forcibly 
than he could have done in a long and laboured panegyric, 'AQccvko-iov i**t»m cc^tryiv 
Ivoctvio-o/xoci. Op. torn. i. 



Semi-arian 
tenets. 



Acacian 

tenets. 



THE AP0LLI2TABIANS — PHOTINTAXS. 119 

that the Son was l^og, the servant of the Father ; and Theodoret 1 a.d. 380. 
has noticed them under the denomination of Psathyrians. It is Psathyrians. 
needless to enumerate more of these obscure modifications of the 
Arian and Semi-arian heresy. 

The fundamental article of the opposite Nicene doctrine is the xicene 
consubstantiality of the Father and the Son. The Son not only doctnne - 
proceeds from the Father, He is not only in the similitude of the 
Father, but also of the same essence. He is not a creature, for 
He existed before the foundation of the world. The Holy Ghost 
is not of the Son only, but of the Father and of the Son together. 
Athanasius has both asserted the Xicene doctrine, and ably 
defended it against objections. He has also carefully discriminated 
it, not only from Arianism, but from Tritheism and SabeUianism. 

THE APOLLINAKIAXS, 

It is erroneous to consider this sect as a ramification of Arianism, 
although the Arian heresy gave rise to it. Its author was ^^ris 
Apollinaris the Younger, bishop of Laodicea, a man of distin- 
guished merit, and whose early life had been signalized by his 
services to the Christian religion. 2 He had combated the inficlehty 
of Porphyry, and attacked the heresy of Arius ; but by indulging 
too freely in philosophical distinctions and subtleties, he was led to 
deny, in some measure, the humanity of Christ. He maintained His tenets. 
that the body with which Christ was endowed, or which Christ 
assumed, had a sensitive, but not a rational soul, and that the 
Divine nature performed the functions of reason, supplying the 
place of intellectual principle. From this hypothesis it followed 
that the Divine nature in Christ was blended with the human, and 
suffered with it the pains of crucifixion and death. Other errors 
have been charged on Apollinaris, but from the accusation of 
SabeUianism he has been vindicated. His doctrines were received 
in many of the Eastern provinces, but as they were capable of 
different explanations, his followers were subdivided into various 
ramifications. The Apollinarian heresy, at least in name, did not 
maintain its ground long, but sank under the united force of 
authority and argument. Marcellus, bishop of Ancyra, may be 
ranked in the same class with Apollinaris, or, at least, the differ- 
ence between them is too trivial to be ascertained. 

PHOTINIANS. 

Photinus was bishop of Sirmium, a man of learning, and pos- Account of 
sessed of considerable influence. 3 His opinions concerning the 
Deity were equally repugnant to the Catholic and Arian systems. 

1 Theodoret, Hasres. Fab. lib. iv. c. 4. 

2 Socrat. lib, xi. c. 46. Epiphan. Hseres. 76. 

3 Socrat. lib. xi. c. 18. Epiphan. Hares. 71. Sozomen, lib. iv. c. 6. 



120 



HEEESIES OF THE FOTTBTH CEXTUEY. 



A.D. 380. 
His tenets. 



He asserted that Christ was a mere man, that He derived his 
beginning at His birth ; that then a certain emanation, or Divine 
raj, descended upon Him, styled the Word; that on account of 
the union of the Divine Word with His human nature, Jesus was 
called the Son of God, or God himself; and that the Holy Ghost 
was not a distinct person, but a celestial virtue proceeding from 
the Divinity. The opinions of Photinus were condemned by the 
Councils of Antioch and Milan, and in consequence he was 
degraded from his episcopal dignity, and died in exile. 



Account of 
Macedonius. 



His tenets. 



THE MACEDONIANS. 

Macedonius was bishop of Constantinople, and a celebrated 
Semi-arian teacher, but through the influence of the Eunomians, 
he was sent into exile, in which he formed the sect of the 
Macedonians, or Pneumatomachians. He considered the Holy 
Ghost as a Divine energy diffused throughout the universe, and 
not as a person distinct from the Father and the Son. 1 The 
opinions of Macedonius were condemned in a general Council at 
Constantinople, which completed that which the Council of Xice 
had left imperfect, and fixed in a full and determinate manner the 
doctrine of three persons in one God. 



Origin of the 
Priscillianists 



of 



THE PEISCILLIANISTS. 

This sect, which seems to have combined in one all the most 
pernicious heresies of former times, first appeared in the reign of 
Gratian, and the country in which it chiefly flourished was Spain 
It had been transported thither by a person named Marc 
Memphis in Egypt, but his converts were not numerous. In 
process of time they increased, and comprehended many persons of 
distinguished learning. Of these, Priscillian, a laic, a man endowed 
with great eloquence and erudition, was at the head, and ultimately 
gave his name to the whole sect. 2 He was afterwards bishop of 
Abila, but was accused by several bishops of Spain of the most 
dangerous opinions. Idacius and Ithacius, the one an aged 
presbyter, the other bishop of Sessuba, in consequence of a 
sentence pronounced against Priscillian and some of his followers, 
at a Synod convened at Saragossa, obtained from the Emperor 
Gratian a rescript of banishment against the Priscillianists and 
their chief. They were restored to their country, however, some 
time after by an edict of the same prince, though then' tenets 
were too corrupt to procure them favour and popularity. 

On the death of Gratian, Maximus, who had procured the 
assassination of that emperor, and had usurped the government of 



1 Epiphan. Hoeres. 74. Augustin, de Hajres. c. 52. 

2 Snip. Sever. Hist. lib. ii. c. 49. 



THE PKISCILLIAKCSTS. 121 

Gaul, was courted both by the Priscillianists and their enemies, a.d. 384, 
The usurper entered the city of Treves, where Ithacius earnestly 
solicited him to suppress the odious heresy, while the Heresiarch 
himself boldly appealed to his judgment and his feelings. Maximus 
willingly accepted the office of deciding the controversy. 

The conduct of Ithacius was not approved by many of those 
who condemned the erroneous tenets of Priscillian. Martin, bishop 
of Tours, strongly reprehended Ithacius for bringing the Priscillian 
heretics as criminals before a civil tribunal, and earnestly implored 
Maximus not to imbrue his hands in the blood of these unhappy 
men. Martin persevered with such pious zeal in opposing the 
tenets of Priscillian, that his supplications for mercy towards the 
heretics had the effect which they deserved. The usurper promised 
that he would not take their lives. 

It is to be lamented that a resolution founded on wisdom and 
humanity was not maintained. Two bishops, Magnus and Rufus, 
prevailed on Maximus to summon Priscillian and some of his fol- 
lowers before a court in which Euodius, the prsefect of Treves, 
presided. They were found guilty, but were remanded by Euodius 
to prison, and their final sentence was referred to Maximus. In Persecution 
the issue, Priscillian, with four other leaders of his sect, were put priscillian 
to death, and some others, who escaped extreme punishment, were h?s d fonoweri 
banished. 1 a.d. 384, 

The agents who procured the infliction of so sanguinary a 
punishment were regarded with the utmost abhorrence, and the 
heresy of Priscillian was rather promoted than extinguished by it. 
Priscillian himself was honoured as a martyr, and Martin of Tours, 
though strongly opposed to his doctrines, testified equal abhorrence 
of the party of Ithacius who had procured his condemnation. 

A fair statement of the Priscillian doctrines has not been given Their tenets. 
by Sulpitius Severus, who has minutely related the history of this 
heresy. It appears, however, that the difference between the Pris- . 
cillianists and the Manichseans was inconsiderable. The former 
denied the reality of Christ's birth and incarnation, maintained 
that the visible universe was the production of some evil principle, 
and considered human bodies as prisons formed by the author of 
evil to enslave celestial minds. Their rule of life was severe, and 
the accusations against them of lasciviousness and intemperance are 
destitute of evidence and authority. The charge of dissimulation 
has, however, some foundation, though exaggerated into an open 
vindication of a correspondent practice of perjury and falsehood. 2 

1 Snip. Sever. Hist. Dial. 3 de Vita Martini, c. 15. 

^ 2 Modern authors who have written concerning the Priscillianists are Beausobre, in 
his History of the Manichgeans ; Simon de Vries, Dissert, de Priscillianistis ; Girvesii, 
Histor. Priscillanist. Chronologica. 



122 



HERESIES OE THE EOT7RTH CENTURY. 



a.d. 386. 

Ardasans. 



Messalians, 
or Enchites. 



Antidieo- 
Marianites 
and Collyri- 
diaiis. 



ARYANS— MESSALIANS, OR EUCHITES— AXTIDICO- 
MARIANITES— COLLYRIDIANTS. 

A few minor sects deserve to be enumerated, but a detail of 
their history or their doctrines is unnecessary. The Aed jeans, 
so named from their founder Ardaeus, were remarkable for cele- 
brating Easter according to the practice of the Jews in contra- 
diction to the Council of Xice, 1 and they are said to have attributed 
a human form to the Deity. The Messalians, or Etjchites, were 
a sort of mystics, and derived their second name from their con- 
tinual habit of prayer, 2 by which they imagined the evil demon, 
who dwelt in the human mind, was expelled, so that the pure 
mind, returning to Grod, might be united to his Divine Essence. 
The Antidico-AIarianites and the Collteidians maintained 
opposite doctrines concerning the Virgin Mary. The former as- 
serted that the Virgin did not preserve her immaculate state after 
the birth of Christ ; the latter worshipped her as a goddess by 
libations and sacrifices. They derived their name from the obla- 
tions of cakes (colly rida?) which they made to the object of their 
adoration, 8 and they enrolled numerous women among then" 
adherents. 



Epiplian. Hseres. 70. 



Ibid. 80. 



s Ibid. 78. 79. 



( 123 ) 



CHAPTER Y. 

HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN THE FIFTH AND 
SIXTH CENTURIES. 

FROM THE DEATH OF THEODOSIUS TO THE REIGN OF PHOCAS, A.D. 395-610. 

After the death of Theodosius, the Roman Empire was divided a.d. 420. 
into two distinct sovereignties, of which one comprehended the Roman Em- 
Eastern, the other the Western provinces. Honorins, who governed 
the "Western Empire, fixed the seat of his government at Ravenna, 
while his brother Arcadius reigned at Constantinople. 

Honorius, whose virtues would have graced a private station, 
consigned the reins of government to his ministers, who followed 
the policy of Theodosius in protecting the Church, in extirpating 
the remains of idolatry, and in supporting Orthodoxy against the 
Donatists and all other heretics. The benign influence of Christian- 
ity, even when it had declined from its primitive purity, was visible 
in a number of imperial edicts, abolishing the impure and savage rites 
of paganism, and providing for the destitute and the miserable. One 
of these humane laws has been particularly eulogized, which directed 
the judges, every Lord's day, to examine into the state of prisons, and 
to inquire into the wants of the criminals confined within them. 1 

But the weakness of Honorius gave advantage to the barbarians 
of the North ; and the Goths, under the command of Alaric, laid 
waste the fairest provinces of Italy, and carried their devastations 
to Rome itself. The plunder of the imperial city, and the conse- 
quent miseries inflicted on the Empire, gave an occasion for calum- 
niating Christianity. The pagans accused the new religion as the ^Christian 
cause of the declension of the Empire ; and this argument, which eased as the 
has been used speciously, though not successfully, in the present " f theifo- 
times, was originally employed with no little force. So weighty man Empire. 
did it then appear, so eagerly was it received, that it called forth 
the indefatigable pen of Augustine, and occasioned his celebrated 
treatise ' De Civitate Dei.' 

The barbarian conquerors of the Western Empire pretended to 
acknowledge the supremacy of the emperors who resided at Con- 
stantinople, but that supremacy was the mere shadow of power. 
In the countries which they conquered, the invaders ruled with 
despotic authority, and particularly in Gaul, where the Franks 
established a monarchy on the ruins of the Roman Empire. This 
warlike nation first passed the Rhine under the conduct of Phara- 

1 Milner, History of the Church of Christ, vol. ii. ch. xi. 



124 CHEISTIAK CHTTKCH — EIFTH AKD SIXTH CEFTUBIES. 

a.d. 432. mond, and his successors advanced gradually in their conquests. 
until Clovis completed theni, and became the founder of the 

§ie Franks ° f -^ rencn monarch j. That prince, whose signal bravery was stained 
by cruelty, perfidy, and ambition, is said to have been converted 
to the Christian faith partly through the influence of his queen 
Clotilda, partly in consequence of a decisive triumph gained by 
him over the Allemanni, at a village called Tolbiacum. Finding 
himself in the greatest extremity, and his whole army in danger of 
destruction, he solemnly engaged himself by a vow, to worship 
Christ as his God if victory decided in his favour. The Allemanni 
were defeated, and Clovis, faithful to his vow, after having been 
instructed by Eemigius, bishop of Eheims, in the doctrines of the 
gospel, received baptism in that city. The conversion of Clovis 
forms an era in the history of the Franks, and was accompanied by 
an unusual number of not altogether veracious prodigies. 1 

oftheGer- The German nations, by whom the Western Empire was dis- 
s membered, in process of time were converted to Christianity, but 
at different periods. Some of them had embraced it before their in- 
cursion, others after having established then independent kingdoms. 
The Goths, the Vandals, the Sueves, the Huns, and the Allemanni, 
all yielded to the established religion of the Roman Empire. 

Of the insh t Christianity in the fifth century extended itself even into the 
British isles. 2 Palladius, who had been ordained bishop of Scot- 
land, was sent by Celestine, the Roman pontiff, into Ireland, to 
propagate the Christian religion among its rude inhabitants. 3 
Death soon terminated his labours, but Celestine found a suc- 
cessor, likewise of Scottish birth, whose name Ireland has greatly 
acknowledged. Patric was born near Dumbarton. His first visit 
to Ireland was as a captive, his second as a missionary. His early 
labours among the Irish were so unsuccessful, that he returned to 
Gaul in disappointment, though not in despair. From Gaul he 
proceeded to Rome, where the authority and advice of Celestine 
confirmed his wavering resolution. Revisiting the country which 
he quitted without hope, he renewed his missionary labours, and 
so complete was his success, that he is still regarded as the apostle 
of the Irish nation. The number and importance of his pious 
exploits, are undoubted proofs of his courage, of his perseverance, 
and of his dexterity. He is said to have taught the Irish the use 
of letters, and after having brought over great numbers from bar- 
barism and superstition to civilization and Christianity, he fixed a 
metropolitan see at Armagh, which has ever since continued to be 
the seat of the Irish primacy. 4 

1 They are related by Gregory of Tours, Hist. Franc, lib. xi. c. 30, 31. 

2 See chap. xx. 

3 Archbishop Usher, in his Antiquities of the British Church, contends that Palla- 
dius was not the first bishop of the Irish Church. 

4 Acta Sanctor. torn. ii. hi. Wilkins. Cone. torn. i. 



PEESECUTIOS" IN PEKSIA. 125 

The history of the Western Church during the fifth century is a.d. 450. 
distinguished both by the extension and the persecution of the 
Christian religion ; but the history of the Eastern Church is re- 
markable for its persecutions only. During the reign of Theodo- Persecution 
sius the Younger, the son and successor of Arcaclius, a grievous 
persecution of the Christians took place in Persia. The calamity 
was occasioned by the indiscreet zeal of a Christian bishop named 
Abdas, who destroyed one of the native temples. 1 Isdegerdes, the 
Persian monarch, on the complaint of the Magi, commanded Abdas 
to repair the injury by rebuilding the edifice which he had wan- 
tonly demolished. Abdas refused compliance with this reasonable 
command, and Isdegerdes, on a principle of retaliatory justice, 
ordered all the Christian churches within his dominions to be 
razed. Thus the misconduct of one Christian bishop laid the foun- 
dation of a persecution against Christianity which continued with 
little intermission during a period of thirty years. Isdegerdes 
began it, and his son and successor Yaranes, inflamed by the Magi, 
pursued it with unrelenting cruelty. 

The afflicted Christians implored the aid of Theodosius, and their 
entreaties were seconded by the humane interference of Atticus, 
bishop of Constantinople. A war ensued, in which Theodosius 
had a decisive superiority, as far as the honour of Christianity is 
concerned. An action of Acacius, bishop of Amida, in the course 
of this war, fully compensated the rash conduct of Abdas. The 
Romans had taken seven thousand prisoners, whom they refused 
to release, though the wretched captives were perishing by famine. 
Acacius, touched with their distress, assembled his clergy, and 
persuaded them to sell the consecrated vessels for the redemption 
of their captive enemies. The prisoners were ransomed, and the 
Persian king returned his grateful acknowledgments to the Christ- 
ian bishop. 2 "*""* 

The reign of Theodosius was of uncommon length, though he 
died at the age of forty -nine. The feebleness of his government 
was strengthened by the wisdom of his sister Pulcheria, who 
maintained an ascendant over the Emperor during his life, and at 
his death remained sole mistress of the Eastern Empire. For 
political reasons she gave herself in marriage to Marcian, whom 
she made emperor, and who, like herself, was an example of 
Christian piety. The preservation of Orthodoxy, the encourage- 
ment of good morals, and the suppression of idolatry, were the 
objects of his government. 

During the fifth century the external condition of the Eastern 
Church was on the whole prosperous ; and in the century which 
succeeded, the zeal of the bishops of Constantinople, seconded by 



1 The Pyraeum, a temple dedicated to fire. Theodoret, Eccl. Hist. lib. v. c. 22 8 
tyle, Diet. vol. i. art. Abdas. 

2 Socrat, Eccl. Hist. lib. vii. c. 22. 



126 CHRISTIAN CHl'KCH — ITTTH AJvD SIXTH CE^TTTRIES. 



learninc 



a.d. 492, the protection and influence of the emperors, contributed greatly 
to the extension of Christianity, The Greek historians have pre- 
served the names of several obscure tribes living on the borders oi 
the Euxine Sea. which were brought at least to a nominal pro- 
fession of then faith in Christ. Under the reign of Justinian, the 
Heruli and the Erali, who dwelt beyond the Danube, the Alani, 
the Lazi. and Zani. with other barbarous nations, are said to have 
renounced the rites of paganism, and to have submitted to Christian 
baptism. 1 The people of Ethiopia and Arabia, whose names are 
more celebrated, but whose geographical boundaries are undefined.. 
were invited, by a solemn embassy from the Emperor Justin, to 
form a political as well as a religious union.* 

In the Western Church the conversion of pagan nations was 
carried on with similar success. Eemigius. bishop of Eheims. was 
so distinguished for his zeal, that he has obtained the appellation 
of the Apostle of the Gauls, But the conversion of the Anglo- 
Saxons, attempted by Augustine, merits a larger and more distinct 
account than is consistent with the present general view, and it 
will be inserted with more propriety in a disquisition on the Anglo- 
Saxon Monarchy and Church. 3 

In making a transition from the external to the internal history 
the attention is called in the first place to the state of literature. 
In almost all the great cities of the divided empire schools were 
erected, and schools are truly said to be the seminaries of the 
Church." Rome and Constantinople each boasted of institutions 
worthy of the two first cities of the civilized world. But the 
incursion of the barbarous nations, though it did not destroy, 
yet materially injured, these excellent establishments. Wherever 
these hordes extended their conquests, ignorance and superstition 
followed then steps, so that towards the conclusion of the fifth cen- 
tury the sciences were almost extinguished, and that system, which 
was generally called the seven liberal arts. 5 was calculated to per- 
plex the memory rather than to improve the judgment. To the 
monastic establishments alone we are indebted for the preservation 
of all the ancient authors, either sacred or profane, which escaped 
the savage fury of Gothic ignorance. The fate of learning was 
less deplorable among the Greeks and Orientals than in the pro- 
vinces of the West ; and in the schools of Alexandria. Constanti- 
nople, and Edessa. poetry, philosophy, and the other liberal arts, 
occupied a place in the education of youth. Platonism was adopted 
by many of the Christian doctors, and this circumstance diminished 
the credit of the pagan schools. 

The doctrine of the Church during these two centimes must be 
collected from its established formularies, from the acts and canons 



Ine of 

the Church. 



'. c. 3. 

..ap. xx. * 

■:.T.mar ( rhetoric, logic, a 



•Vi. 



- .v. 

sad tstron 



APOCKYPHAL AKD SPUMOUS WEITINGS. 127 

promulgated in. its councils, and from the writings of its orthodox a.d. 496. 
fathers. Many points of religion were more clearly explained, and 
many of its doctrines stated with greater accuracy than they had 
been in the preceding ages. Controversies were multiplied, and 
controversy brings with it this advantage, that disputants find it 
necessary to state their tenets with precision. The sum of Christ- 
ian doctrine was the same in these ages with that which is now 
professed in the purest of the reformed Churches, the Church of 
England. The authority of the Holy Scriptures, as a sufficient writings of 
rule in matters of controversy, and as a perfect guide in matters of ^ e u f f^g o/ n 
practice, was fully set forth by Augustine, in his treatises against the Scrip- 
the Arians, Pelagians, and Donatists. 1 Though in his enumera- 
tion of the canonical Scriptures he inserted those books which are 
by Protestants styled apocryphal, yet he did not assign to them an 
equal value or authority with the Inspired Writings. 2 Tradition 
he did not entirely reject ; but he laid down sound criteria, by 
which apostolical tradition might be distinguished from that which 
was novel and corrupt. 3 

To the corruption of the Holy Scriptures and the multiplication Muitipiica- 
of spurious writings in this age, may be traced the departure from Sous°4nt-" 
sound doctrine and Christian purity which fearfully increased. A ings. 
rule borrowed from the Roman law, which referred all matters of 
a doubtful nature to the decision of the aged lawyers, was adopted 
by Christian councils. According to this procedure reason and 
common sense were excluded from the determination of every 
question ; and that was approved and admitted as truth which 
appeared such to the greatest number, or had been sanctioned by 
a majority of suffrages in preceding times. This absurd imitation 
of the Roman law in matters of religious controversy was a fruitful 
source of spurious productions. Many audacious impostors were 
hence encouraged to publish their own pernicious writings under 
the names of the apostles, and even of Christ himself, in order that . 
they might have authorities to oppose to authorities in defence of 
their respective opinions. Such was the extent of this practice, 
that it is said to have caused Grelasius, the Roman pontiff, to con- 
voke a council, composed of seventy bishops of the Latin Church, 
in which assembly a decree was passed, depriving a multitude Decree of 
of those apocryphal books of their pretended authority. The de- Geiasius. 
cree, attributed to Gelasius, labours under the same stigma with 
the books which it condemns ; since learned men have not scrupled 
to assert that it was not a real enactment of the Pontiff, but of 
some impostor usurping his name. 4 

1 Augustine, de Unitate Eccles. c. 3, 16. 2 Augustine, de Doctr. Christ, lib. xi. c. 8. 

3 De Doctr, Christ, lib. xi. c. 10. Chrysostom, Cyril, Theodoret, and other Greek 
writers, make a distinction between the ?& y-y^ a^^i v x , or the Bu» ypafr,, and the roc, 

criG-iyu.z.va, 01* the ocy^uipac,. 

4 Pearson, Vindic. Ignat. part i. c. 4. . . . 



128 CHEISTIA^ CHTJKCH — FIFTH AOT SIXTH CEIfTTJEIES. 

a.d, 532. When the purity of the Sacred Oracles had once been polluted 
Corruption hj the admixture of spurious and heretical writings, the corruption 
ianity. " of Christian doctrine advanced with a rapid pace. Abuses were 
multiplied, and in the place of practical piety was substituted a 
furious zeal for superstitious rites. The sum of Christian morality 
was made to consist in the worship of images and saints and the 
adoration of relics. Even those who enforced the duties of Christ- 
ianity, by exhibiting examples of piety and virtue in the lives of 
the saints, executed their task in a manner calculated to mislead 
rather than to instruct. The models proposed for imitation were 
ignorant fanatics, who offered violence to reason and nature, and 
disgraced the religion which then lives professed to follow and to 
recommend. 
concSf ^ ^ e neres i es which arose at this time a separate account will 
the system of be given, but under the present head of Christian doctrine the 
controversy concerning the system of Origen will most properly 
find a place. Though the errors of that great man had been con- 
demned by repeated synods and councils, yet they were regarded 
by many, and especially by the monks, with the highest venera- 
tion. In the West, Bellator translated the works of Origen into 
the Latin language ; in the East, Theodore of Caesarea, in Cappa- 
docia, defended Origenism with more than common vehemence. 
The question was at length brought before Justinian, who in a 
verbose edict, addressed to Minnas, patriarch of Constantinople, 
passed a severe condemnation on the doctrines of Origen, and com- 
manded their suppression. 1 

But the effects of this edict were rendered nugatory by a con- 
troversy which shortly arose. The Emperor Justinian had a 
stronger animosity against a branch of the Monophysites, called 
Acephali, than against the disciples of Origen, and, strange to say, 
consulted about the means of accomplishing his design with Theo- 
dore, who was both a Monophysite and an Origenist. The artful 
prelate considered this a favourable opportunity for indirectly pro- 
moting the opinions of Origen, without injuring the cause of the 
Acephali. He persuaded the Emperor that the latter would gladly 
return to the bosom of the Church on the following reasonable 
conditions : — that the decision of the Council of Chalcedon, in 
which Theodore of Monsuistia, Theodoret of Cyrus, and Ibas of 
Edessa, had been pronounced orthodox, should be expunged ; and 
that the writings of those three prelates, known by the appellation 
The Three of the ' Three Chapters,' 2 should be condemned and prohibited. 
Chapters. ^ g ^ e wr ft m g S now specified had a manifest tendency towards the 
errors of the Nestorians, the Emperor willingly listened to this 

1 Harduin, Concilia, torn. iii. p. 243. 

2 For copious and authentic accounts of the Three Chapters the reader is referred 
to Harduin, Concil. torn. iii. pp. 283-287. Evagr. Hist. Eccles. lib. iv. c. 38. Basnage, 
Hist, de TEglise, liv. x. c. 6. Dupin, Biblioth. torn. v. 



CHT7ECH POLITY. 129 

advice, and issued an edict condemning the chapters, yet without a.d. 560. 
prejudice to the authority of the Council of Chalcedon. This edict 
was strongly opposed both by the African and the Western bishops, 
and above all by Vigilius, the Roman pontiff. But Yigilius, being 
summoned by Justinian to Constantinople, at last yielded, and 
joined in a condemnation of the Three Chapters. The Bishops of 
Africa and Illyricum resented this conduct, and obliged the vacil- 
lating pontiff to retract a second time, and the retractation of 
Vigilius instigated Justinian to summon at Constantinople the Fifth General 
Fifth (Ecumenical or Qeneral Council, a.d. 553. ComiciL 

The decisions of this Assembly were favourable to the wishes of Condenma- 
the Emperor, for the Three Chapters were declared to be heretical Th?ee f c!iap- 
and impious. The decree was enacted chiefly by the bishops of ter& 
the East ; but among the few Western bishops, Yigilius was present, 
refused his assent, and, for his contumacy, was condemned to exile. 
He was not permitted to return till he had declared his approba- 
tion of the decree of the Council ; and changing his side (for to 
call it his opinion would be absurd) a fourth time, he pronounced 
the Three Chapters to be execrable blasphemies. His successors 
in the pontifical chair steadily maintained the last profession of 
assent to the decree of the Fifth General Council, which Yigilius 
had been compelled to express. But the Western bishops, una wed 
by the authority of the Roman pontiffs or the Emperors, persisted 
in their dissent from the Council of Constantinople. 

Having taken this summary view of the doctrine, we proceed to Polity of the 
consider the discipline of the Church, and during the period under urc ' 
consideration many important changes took place in its polity. 
The power of the superior order of bishops gradually increased, 
and the office and dignity of patriarch was first acknowledged. 
In the preceding century the Council of Constantinople, in consi- 
deration of the privileges of the imperial city, had conferred on its 
bisbops a pre-eminence among the rulers of the Christian Church, 
yet at first five sees were acknowledged by the Eastern Christians 
to be patriarchal. These were Borne, Constantinople, Alexandria, 
Antioch, and Jerusalem. 1 In this century the Bishops of Constan- 
tinople extended their views of supremacy ; for, by a canon of a 
Council holden at Chalcedon, a.d. 451, it was resolved that the *-* 
same rights and honours which had been conferred on the Bishops 
of Borne were due to the Bishops of Constantinople, because the 
two cities were alike imperial. The same Council confirmed to the 
Bishop of Constantinople the government of the provinces of Asia, 
Thrace, and Pontus. 

Leo the Great, a vigorous assertor of the rights of the Roman increasing 
see, opposed with vehemence these decrees, and was seconded in Bi^opsof 16 

Rome. 

1 The Oriental historians mention a sixth, viz. the Bishop of Seleucia and Ctesiphon. 
Mich. Le Quienj Oriens Christianus, torn. iii. p. 110. 

K 



130 CHEISTIA^ CHTTECH — FIFTH AtfD SIXTH CENTUEIES. 



a.d. 580. his opposition by several other prelates. He was supported, 
though not by co-operation or concert, by the bishops of those 
cities to which the patriarchal dignity was annexed. Juvenal, 
bishop of Jerusalem, or rather of iEha, attempted to withdraw 
himself and his Church from the jurisdiction of the Bishops of 
Csesarea, and aspired at a rank in Christendom, which the mother 
of the Jewish Church demanded. Encouraged by the protection 
of Theodosius the younger, this ambitious prelate not only assumed 
the dignity of Patriarch of all Palestine, but invaded the jurisdiction 
of the Bishop of Antioch. 

None of the Patriarchs gained so much by these contentions as 
did the Bishop of Rome. A variety of circumstances contributed 
to the augmentation of his power. The Bishops of Alexandria and 
Antioch frequently applied to the Roman Pontiff for succour 
against the aggressions of the Patriarch of Constantinople, and 
the inferior bishops appealed in the same manner when oppressed 
by their superiors of Alexandria and Antioch. By accepting this 
mediation, and by protecting the appellants alternately, the bishops 
of Rome imperceptibly established the supremacy of the Roman see. 

Between the Bishops of Rome and of Constantinople, who 
divided the spiritual empire of Christendom, the contest for 
superiority was long, and the issue doubtful. The Bishop of 
Constantinople not only claimed an undisputed sovereignty over 
all the bishops of the East, but maintained that his Church was 
in no way inferior to that of Rome. The Roman pontiffs, on the 
other hand, strenuously resisted this pretension, and asserted their 
pre-eminence over the Church of Constantinople. Both the con- 
tending parties relied on the prerogatives of ancient and modern 
Rome ; the spiritual governor of the latter could not bear a 
superior, and the former would not tolerate an equal. 

After many years of dissembled friendship, or of remitted 
hostility, the enmity of these two aspirants to spiritual dominion 
was brought to an open rupture. John, bishop of Constantinople, 
surnamed the Faster, on account of his extraordinary abstinence 
and austerity, assembled, by his own authority, a Council in the 
imperial city of the East, to inquire into an accusation preferred 
against Gregory, the patriarch of Antioch. On that occasion, he 
assumed the title of (Ecumenical, or Universal Bishop. Pelagius II., 
who at that time filled the see of Rome, sent forth a strong protest 
against the unwarrantable assumption, and his successor, Gregory 
the Great, resisted it with greater vehemence, though not with 
greater success. This celebrated Pontiff addressed letters to the 
Emperor, and to such other persons as he judged likely to co-operate 
in his opposition ; but his efforts were ineffectual, and the Constan- 
tinopolitan patriarchs persisted in styling themselves (Ecumenical. 1 



Contest be- 
tween the 
Bishops of 
Eome and 
Constanti- 
nople. 



Greg. Epist. lib. iv. 5, 7. Tempe Helvet. torn. iv. 



SUPREMACY OE THE E03IA1S' POKTIFE. 131 

Gregory adhered to his purpose with a tenacity suitable to his a.d. 602. 
character, and succeeded so far as to create a considerable party 
among the clergy, who favoured his cause. In the West he gained 
a decisive triumph, but in the East, his arrogance and ambition 
were met by scorn, except by those who were at enmity with the 
Bishop of Constantinople. But in the plenitude of his indigna- 
tion, he unwarily uttered sentiments which have been carefully 
recorded, and quoted against his successors in the papal chair, in 
their aim at universal spiritual sovereignty. "I speak it con- 
fidently," he says, "that whosoever calls himself Universal Priest, 
or desires to be so called, in the pride of his heart, he foreruns 
Antichrist." 1 

The disputes about pre-eminence between the two Patriarchs 
proceeded to such an extremity, that it laid the foundation of the 
schism between the Greek and Latin Churches. It is generally Grant of the 
agreed that the tyrant Phocas, who ascended the imperial throne |^| r s °^ 
by the murder of the Emperor Mauritius, deprived the Bishop of Boniface in. 
Constantinople of his ancient title of (Ecumenical, and bestowed 
it exclusively on Boniface III., the Eoman pontiff. The fact has 
been adopted by ecclesiastical historians, on the authority of 
Baronius alone, and has therefore been questioned by many modern 
writers. But it has been received without hesitation by most of 
the Protestant commentators on the Apocalypse, for the purpose 
of establishing a synchronism between the rise of the Papal and 
the Mohammedan power. 

1 Ergo fidenter dico quod quisquis se Universalem Sacerdotem vocat, vel vocari 
desiderat, in elatione sua Antichristum praecnrrit. Lib. \i. Epist. 30. See Treatise on 
the Pope's Supremacy Suppos. v. p. 123. Ed, 1683. 



( 132 ) 



CHAPTEE VI. 

ECCLESIASTICAL WRITERS OF THE FIFTH AND SIXTH 

CENTURIES. 



Fifth Century. 
Chrysostom. 
Augustine. 
Jerome. 
Cyril. 
Isidore. 
Theodoret. 
Socrates. 
Sozomen. 
Cassian. 

Leo I. the Great. 
Hilary. 
Prosper. 
Primasius. 
Basil of Seleucia. 
Theodotus of Ancyra. 
Gelasius. 

Theodore of Mopsuesta. 
Palladids. 

a.d. 354. Following the plan already adopted, of briefly noticing the 
works of inconsiderable writers, and of giving biographical notices 
only of the most eminent, the catalogue will begin with that 
ornament of the Greek Church — 



Sixth Century. 

Procopius. 

Maxentius. 

Theodore of Byzantium. 

John of Constantinople. 

Eulogius. 

Leontius. 

Anastasius. 

Gregory I. the Great. 

Gregory of Tours. 

GaESARHJS. 

fulgentius. 
eunodius. 
boethius. 
Cassiodorus. 



Birth. 



Education. 



CHRYSOSTOM. 1 
a.d. 354-407. 

At Antioch, that city in which " the disciples were first called 
Christians," was this eloquent expositor of Christian doctrine born. 
His parents were persons of no mean rank, but having lost his 
father soon after his birth, the superintendence of his education 
devolved solely on his mother. Through her, he was instructed 
in the rudiments of Christianity, but having a natural inclination 
for the study of oratory, he was placed under the tuition of that 
great master of the art, Libanius of Antioch. Even at this period 
he gave indications of his peculiar talent, and of his future great- 
ness ; for Libanius being asked which of his disciples would be 
capable of succeeding him in his school, replied, " John, if the 
Christians had not stolen him from us." 

Having pleaded in the forum for a short time, he relinquished 



1 This biographical account of Chrysostom is extracted chiefly from Cave's life of 
that father. 



CHETSOSTOM. 133 

his secular pursuits, and devoted himself with undistracted assiduity a.d. 398. 
to the study of the Holy Scriptures. Under the care of Diodorus, 
afterwards bishop of Tarsus, he was taught to investigate the literal 
sense of the sacred writings, in opposition to the fanciful interpre- 
tations of the school of Origen. Notwithstanding the entreaties 
of his excellent mother, he lived for a long time in monastic 
seclusion, but was at length promoted to the office of a presbyter He is or- 
by Flavian, bishop of Antioch. In a rebellion which broke out at pSyter at 
Antioch, under the reign of the younger Theodosius, Chrysostom ^t 10011 - 
conspicuously showed his prudence and his piety. The populace 
had contemptuously thrown down the statues of Theodosius and 
his consort Flaccilla, but their audacity soon gave place to fear, 
and they deprecated in the most submissive manner the imperial 
resentment. Flavian the bishop, though oppressed by age and 
infirmities, undertook a journey to Constantinople, to plead with 
Theodosius in behalf of the deluded people, and Libanius the 
sophist followed his example. Chrysostom continuing at Antioch, 
endeavoured to turn these temporal calamities to the spiritual 
edification of the people. From a consideration of the severe 
proceedings of the imperial tribunal, and the fruitless intercessions 
of relatives in behalf of their husbands and fathers, he took occasion 
to inculcate the awful solemnity of the great day of judgment, 
when no solicitation can arrest the arm of Divine Justice. 

It was not until he had attained the middle age of life, and till gPP ointe f d 
his long tried abilities fully justified the promotion, that Chrysos- Constau- 
tom was appointed Bishop of Constantinople, a.d. 398. The tiIlople • 
appointment was made by the Emperor Arcadius, in consequence 
of the recommendation of Eutropius, chamberlain of the imperial 
household. The newly elected prelate immediately applied himself 
to the reformation of his diocese. A visible improvement of 
manners, in a city which had long suffered by religious contention, 
and in which relaxation of discipline was followed by corruption of 
morals, was the result of his labours. Those who had thronged 
the public shows, were attracted, by the eloquence of Chrysos- 
tom, to the Church. So great were the crowds, that the preacher 
was obliged to abandon his usual station, on the steps of the altar, 
and to place himself in the middle of the Church, in the reader's 
desk, in order that he might be more generally heard. 

" The common people heard him gladly," and heretics were re- His diligence 
claimed by his preaching, but the clergy, indolent and corrupt, felt m Ms office * 
reproved by his zeal, and the wealthy, offended at the plainness of 
his remonstrances against their vices, were not less incensed than 
the clergy. Chrysostom, however, persevered, nor did he confine 
his labours to the imperial city. He visited the neighbouring 
provinces of Thrace, Asia, and Pontus, and prevailed on the clergy 
under his authority to do the same, thus attempting to spread the 
gospel among barbarous nations. 



134 



ECCLESIASTICAL WEITEES — EIPTH CEXTTTET. 



A.D. 400. 

Incurs the 

censure of 
the Nova- 
tians. 



Attacked by 
Sisinnius, a 
Novatian 
hishop. 



Condemned 
in a Synod at 
Constan- 
tinople. 



Behaviour. 



Deposed. 



It was on a point of discipline which Chrysostom endeavoured 
to restore in its primitive strictness, that his enemies were enabled 
to attack him with most prospect of success. During the negli- 
gent administration of his predecessor Nectarius, the Lord's Supper 
was indiscriminately administered even to the most profligate and 
profane, no other rules for their admission being prescribed than 
such as they voluntarily imposed on themselves. In times of greater 
purity, and more wholesome discipline, a presbyter had been ap- 
pointed whose special office it was to receive the confession of 
penitents, and by his authority they were admitted to the holy 
table. It was not in the power of Chrysostom to revive this office, 
but he supplied the defect by his exhortations. He energetically 
inculcated on his hearers the duty of repentance, and then recom- 
mended their attendance on the Lord's Supper. His expressions were 
wrested from their true meaning by two classes of men of opposite 
characters : the Xovatians, who still maintained their favourite 
point of rejecting from the communion all whom they termed 
lapsed; and the dissolute, who accused him of giving a license to 
sin. Chrysostom incurred the censure of both ; he was publicly 
accused by some profligate bishops, and Sisinnius, a Novatian pre- 
late in Constantinople, attacked him in a treatise with uncommon 
severity. 1 

Various circumstances concurred to strengthen these accusations, 
and to occasion the temporal ruin of the Bishop of Constantinople. 
A Synod convened under the management of Theophilus, bishop of 
Alexandria, a man who disgraced the episcopal order, but who was 
supported by the Empress Eudoxia, passed a sentence of condem- 
nation on Chrysostom. Seeing the probable effect of the storm 
which was gathering around him, the injured prelate called to- 
gether a few bishops who still adhered to him, and delivered to 
them an impressive address. He earnestly exorted them not to 
desert then 1 charge, on account of the danger which threatened 
himself. "I am ready," he said, "to be offered up like St. Paul, 
and the time of my departure is at hand. I am prepared to quit 
this troublesome life, but by your constancy, you will find mercy 
at the hand of GTod. Only remember me in your prayers." The 
assembly being touched sensibly by this address, he besought his 
brethren to moderate their grief, and reminded them of the lessons 
which he had constantly inculcated in his homilies. When Eulysius, 
bishop of Apamia, suggested that if they kept their churches, they 
should be compelled to communicate with heretics, " Communicate 
you may," returned Chrysostom, "that you make not a schism in 
the Church, but subscribe not the decrees, for I am conscious that 
I have not deserved deposition." 

Not satisfied with this solemn declaration of his innocence, 



l Socrat. Eccles. Hist. lib. vi. c. 21. 



CHETSOSTO^I. 135 

Chiysostom refused to acknowledge the authority of the tribunal a.d. 404. 
which sat in judgment on him ; hut his enemies deposed him for 
contumacy, and in order to support then views, accused him before 
the Emperor Arcadius of treason. The people of Constantinople, 
however, who entertained a high veneration for then bishop, in- 
sisted that the cause should be heard before more impartial judges : 
and so strong was the popular feeling in his favour, that Chrysos- Removed 
torn, fearing an insurrection, delivered himself up secretly to the staSinopie. 
officer who came to execute the imperial warrant against him. He 
was conveyed immediately to a port in the Black Sea. 

No sooner was the intelligence of the banishment of Chrysostom 
made public, than the whole city was filled with indignation. Public 
clamour was loud against the Emperor, who had thus weakly given 
up so bright an ornament of the Christian Church to the malice of 
Eudoxia and Theophilus. The tumult increased to such a degree 
of violence, that Eudoxia herself, terrified at the danger, implored 
the Emperor to revoke the sentence of banishment, and even wrote 
to Chrysostom a letter couched in terms of respect and expressive 
of contrition. 

The people of Constantinople saw with the most lively emotions Restored. 
of joy the return of then- beloved pastor to his bishopric, but the 
season of triumph was of short duration. Soon after his restora- 
tion, a silver statue of the Empress was erected in the street before 
the great Church of Sta. Sophia, and was solemnly dedicated with 
Pagan rites. Chrysostom, impatient of this act of profanation, 
reprehended it from the pulpit, and began his sermon as follows : 
" Now, again, Herodias raves, and is vexed, again she dances, again Provokes the 
she desires John's head in a charger." Such imprudence could the Empress 
not fail of gratifying his enemies, and they turned it to then ad- End(ma - 
vantage. The resentment of Eudoxia was unbounded, and Arca- 
dius, overcome by importunity, again commanded the Bishop's 
deposition. He was not only deposed, but committed to prison, 
and his friends and followers were scattered, and even put to death. 
Edicts were issued, commanding all persons to renounce communion 
with him, and three thousand of his catechumens, who had assem- 
bled in the fields to keep the festival of Easter, were rudely dis- 
persed by the Emperor himself at the head of a military force. 
At last Chrysostom received a mandate to leave the city, and he ^ e e e aves hi3 
was obliged to relinquish the government of his diocese to Arsa- 
cius, the brother of Xeetarius. He had earnestly recommended 
his flock to communicate with the bishop who might be chosen in 
his room, but the advice was disregarded. They refused to sub- 
mit, formed separate assemblies, and were severely persecuted under 
the name of Joannites. 

Chrysostom himself was conveyed to Cucusus in Armenia, an Banished to 
uncultivated country, infested by robbers, and disgracefully known 
as the spot in which Paul, a former bishop of Constantinople, had 



136 ECCLESIASTICAL WKITEBS — FIFTH CENTURY. 

a.d. 407. been murdered. His journey to this desolate region was attended 
with many hardships, though his sufferings were alleviated by the 
sympathy and kind offices of his numerous friends. At Cucusus 
he experienced a treatment, which neither himself, his friends, nor 
his enemies, had reason to expect. He preached frequently to the 
people, who heard him with reverence ; by the liberality of a female 
disciple, Olympias, who faithfully adhered to his fortunes, and who 
had been banished to Nicomedia for her devotedness to his cause, 
he was supplied with money, and wealth in the hands of Chrysos- 
tom was used only as an instrument of beneficence. He relieved 
the poor who were suffering under a grievous famine, and he re- 
deemed many captives who had been taken by the Isaurian robbers. 
He projected a plan for converting the pagans of Phoenicia, and he 
contributed large sums for the erection of churches, and the sup- 
port of missionaries. 

But the implacable enmity which had condemned him to banish- 
ment, pursued him even to the inhospitable climate of Isauria. 
His enemies, beholding with jealous malignity the respect shown 
to his virtues and his misfortunes, procured an order for his 
removal to Pityus, on the extreme shore of the Black Sea. On 
his way thither, he was brought to an oratory of Basiliscus, who 
had suffered martyrdom in the persecution of Diocletian. Here 
he entreated to rest, but the indulgence was refused by his guards. 
Nature, however, was exhausted, he had not proceeded far before 
his conductors were compelled to return with him to the desired 
oratory. Here he received the Lord's Supper, uttered his last 
prayer, and, having concluded with his usual doxology, " Glory be 
to God for all events," tranquilly expired, a.d. 407. 

works. rp^-g g rea £ mailj however, "though dead, yet speaketh" by his 

works. As an expositor of Scripture, though he adopted the views 
of Origen, he is judicious and energetic. As a preacher he was 
eminently useful, because he was practical ; and though his dis- 
courses were directed against the prevailing vices of his own age, 
and of the city in which he presided, yet they may be read with 
advantage even in these later times. As a devotional writer he 
was not less excellent than as a preacher ; and the beautiful ' Col- 
lect,' which concludes the daily service of the Church of England, 
is a proof that he was endowed in a peculiar manner with " the 
gift of prayer." In parenetic theology his rank is deservedly high, 
and his treatise c De Sacerdotio' must excite in young minds a 
serious awe of the danger of miscarrying in an office of so fearful 
importance, and cannot fail to check the levity and presumption 
of any that would undertake it without due preparation. 

The best edition of the complete works of Chrysostom is that 
published by Montfaucon in eleven volumes folio. But it would 
be an unpardonable omission in an English divine to pass over the 
edition projected by Sir Henry Savile, Warden of Merton college, 



Death. 



AUGUSTINE. 137 

Oxford, and superintended by the "ever memorable" John Hales, a.d. 354. 
Greek professor in that university. 

Cave, 'Hist. Lit. 5 vol. i. ; Dupin, 'Biblioth. Cent.' iv. ; Span- 
heim, ' Hist. Christ.' S2ec. iv. and v. 

AUGUSTINE. 1 
a.d. 354-430. 

This great master of polemics was born in the city of Tagasta, Birth. 
in Numidia, of respectable parentage. His father, Patricius, con- 
tinued a pagan till nearly the time of his death; his mother, 
Monica, was renowned for Christian piety. Augustine in his ' Con- 
fessions ' accuses himself of a natural indolence, and says, that he 
improved in learning only through necessity. He had an aversion 
to Greek literature, though it is by no means to be inferred, 
that he never attained a knowledge of the Greek language. In 
the neighbouring city of Madaura, he received the first rudiments 
of education, and devoted himself to the study of oratory. His 
father, with a spirit above his circumstances, determined to send 
Augustine, then in his seventeenth year, to the famous school at 
Carthage. There he continued to cultivate his favourite study, Education. 
till in the course of his reading he met with the ' Hortensius ' of 
Cicero. This treatise effected a remarkable change in his views, 
and renouncing the fantastic hope of gaining reputation by elo- 
quence, he felt an ardent desire after wisdom. Though at this 
time unacquainted with the apostolical admonition, " Take heed, 
lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit," yet 
he resolved to seek wisdom, not by ranging himself under any 
particular sect, but by making an impartial search wherever it 
might be found. In this investigation he did not overlook the 
Holy Scriptures, but at first he read them without delight. " My 
pride," he says, "was disgusted with their manner, and my pene- 
tration could not enter into their meaning." 

In this situation he fell in with the Manichees, men who were Embraces 
always talking of truth, and yet formed the most absurd opinions ^ ' 
on the works of nature and the dispensations of Providence. Au- 
gustine was seduced by these heretics, partly through their subtle 
and captious questions concerning the origin of evil, partly through 
their blasphemies against the holy men recorded in the Old Testa- 
ment. During the space of nine years, " deceived and deceiving," 
he lived, infatuated with the Manichsean follies, and even a believer 
in the dotages of astrology. 

The loss of a beloved friend after his return from Carthage to 
his native city, first staggered his confidence in the opinions which 
he had embraced. In the violence of early sorrow, he quitted 

1 This biographical account is extracted principally from his own Confessions. 



138 



ECCLESIASTICAL WRITERS — FIFTH CENTURY. 



A.D. 386. 



Settles at 
Rome. 



Suspects the 
truth of 
Manichsean 
doctrines. 



Renounces 
them. 



Receives 

Christian 
baptism at 
Milan. 
Returns to 
Africa. 



Tagasta, and again returned to Carthage. Here some circum- 
stances connected with, a Manichsean bishop named Faustus, who 
had come to that city, contributed to strengthen his doubts con- 
cerning the soundness of the whole system ; but he still remained 
a Manichaaan, because he despaired of finding a better road to truth. 

From Carthage he was induced to go to Rome, still a disciple of 
Manichaeism. The Manichees were divided into two classes, the 
hearers or novices, and the elect. Augustine belonged to the latter ; 
but at Kome his attachment to his sect was considerably weakened, 
and he began to entertain a secret predilection for the academic 
philosophy. Some unexpected disappointments at Rome, or some 
expected advantages at Milan in his capacity of teacher of rhetoric, 
led him thither. Its bishop, Ambrose, received the new professor 
with paternal affection, and Augustine was gradually brought to 
attend to his doctrine. The possibility of finding truth in the 
Church of Christ appeared, and he began to consider how he 
might convict Manichaeism of falsehood. In conclusion, he deter- 
mined to remain a catechumen in the Church, till he saw his way 
more clearly. 

The state of his mind was now somewhat altered, and, ashamed 
of his former delusions, he became exceedingly sceptical. His most 
intimate associates were Alypius and Nebridius, the former of 
whom had studied under him at Tagasta and at Carthage, and the 
latter had left a paternal estate in the vicinity of that city for the 
pleasure and instruction of Augustine's society. The arguments of 
Nebridius seem to have cleared his mind entirely of Manichseism 
and of astrology, and he was prepared, by his renunciation of those 
pernicious errors, to approach the oracles of divine truth. 

With eagerness, tempered by awe, he took up the inspired vo- 
lume, and particularly the writings of St. Paul. He read, and 
truth flashed irresistibly on his mind. Deeply affected, he went 
to Simplician, the spiritual father of Ambrose, bishop of Milan, 
and described his religious state. Simplician confirmed his resolu- 
tion by relating a similar conversion in Yictorinus, a Roman rhe- 
torician. 

Augustine now resolved to relinquish his employment of teach- 
ing, not abruptly but gradually ; and he wrote to Ambrose, with a 
request that the Bishop would point out those parts of the Sacred 
Writings which were the best preparation for baptism. Ambrose 
called his attention to the prophecies of Isaiah, but to Augustine 
the other and plainer parts of Scripture seemed preferable. 

At Milan Augustine received the sacred rite of baptism together 
with his friend Alypius and his son Adeodatus. In company with 
Euodius, a Milanese citizen, and a Christian convert, Augustine 
with his son and friend determined to return to Africa. At the 
mouth of the Tiber his mother, who had been the faithful com- 
panion of his travels, who had witnessed his spiritual conflicts, who 



AUGUSTUS. 139 

had supported him in the hour of despair by her counsel and by a.d. 428. 
her prayers, expired. Not long before her death she said, " Son, 
I have now no delight in life. One thing only, your conversion, 
was an object for which I wished to live. That is granted. What 
do I here?" 

Augustine, after his return to Africa, lived on his own estate for Removes to 
almost three years in a state of retirement ; but at the solicitation ippo * 
of a person of some consequence in Hippo, who requested his in- 
structions, he removed to that city. Valerius was its bishop, a 
man of great piety, but on account of his slender acquaintance with 
the Latin tongue unfit for the situation in which he was placed. 
Augustine, through the urgent desires of the people, and in com- 
pliance with the earnest wishes of Valerius, was ordained a pres- is ordained a 
byter. In this station his ministry was highly useful, in the edi- pres y er ' 
fication of the faithful, and the confutation of heretics. Fortuna- 
tus, the great leader of the Manichees, was obliged to leave Hippo 
in confusion, when he found himself, by the unanimous suffrage of 
the audience, vanquished in a conference with Augustine. 

Valerius, solicitous to preserve so invaluable an accession to his 
Church, procured the election of Augustine as coadjutor to himself. 
Augustine, after having long resisted, at length accepted the epis- Elected 
copal office, the duties of which he fulfilled alone, after the decease Hippa ° f 
of Valerius. His activity increased with his elevation. To his conduct in 
indefatigable zeal in preaching he added the laborious employment his bishopric. 
of hearing causes, and in their examination and decision he often 
spent the whole day. In attendance on councils he was punctual, 
and in them he distinguished himself in the defence both of Christ- 
ian doctrine and discipline. His dress, furniture, and diet were 
moderated between the extremes of luxury and penuriousness. He 
was K a lover of hospitality," and during meals encouraged reading 
or useful conversation ; but he had a strong aversion to detraction 
and slander, and he caused a distich 1 to be inscribed on his table, 
intimating that whoever attacked the characters of the absent 
should be excluded. He was conscientiously attentive to the 
wants of the poor, and relieved them out of the revenues of the 
Church or the oblations of the faithful. 

A short time before his death he was employed in the revisal invasion of 

j. %j \tGI1S6T1C 

and correction of his works, and the fruits of his labour were his 
'Betractations, 5 which were intended to give to the world his last 
and matured opinions. It pleased God, however, that he should 
not depart without passing through a cloud of temporal affliction, 
and thus his hope of immortality was quickened by a bitter taste 
of the evils of this life. Genseric, king of the Vandals, invaded 
Africa, and ravaged it with all the horrors of uncivilized warfare. 

1 " Quisquis amat dictis absentium rodere vitam 
Hanc mensam vetitam, noverit esse sibi." 

Posid. Vit. August. 



140 



ECCLESIASTICAL WRITEES — EIETH CE^TTJEY. 



a.d. 430. Augustine was compelled to witness, in addition to the usual desola- 
tion, the destruction of the Christian churches and the persecution 
of their pastors. Count Boniface, one of the greatest Roman heroes 
of those times, undertook the defence of Hippo against the barba- 
rians, and bravely protracted its capture for fourteen months, when, 
with the rest of Africa, it fell under the power of the Yandals. 

But Augustine was taken away before the consummation of this 
calamity. While he mourned under the disasters of the times in 
company with Posidienus and several bishops who had fled for 
shelter to Hippo, he told them that his earnest prayer had been 
offered to Glod, that his servants might be rescued from the siege, 
or that they might be endued with patience to bear the approach- 
ing evil, or that himself might be removed to another world. In 
Death. the third month of the siege his last wish was granted. He was 

seized with a fever, a.d. 430, which ended in his dissolution, having 
lived seventy-six years, forty of which he had been a presbyter or 
a bishop. It was his common saying, that a Christian should 
never cease to repent even to the hour of his death, and he caused 
the Penitential Psalms of David to be inscribed on the wall in his 
last sickness. He left no will, for he had neither money nor lands. 
His only earthly possession was his library, which he bequeathed 
to the Church. 

With the polemical life of Augustine the present chapter has no- 
concern, since it will be brought under consideration in treating of 
the heresies to which he was opposed. The same remark may be 
applied to his controversial writings. Of his practical writings 
that volume which is best known to the English reader is his 
6 Meditations,' though doubts have been entertained of its genuine- 
ness. His sermons are far inferior to his other compositions in learn- 
ing and eloquence ; but they were addressed to the people, and not 
to the literati. They are plain and simple, but weighty and serious. 

The editions of Augustine's detached treatises are too numerous 
to be inserted here, but an accurate and splendid edition of his 
whole works was published by the Benedictines. 

Posidienus, ' Vita Augustini ;' Augustine, ' Confessiones ;' Span- 
heim, c Hist. Christ.' ssec. iv. and v. ; Cave, c Hist. Lit. 5 vol. i. 



Works. 



Birth and 
education. 



JEROME. 1 

a.d. 331-420. 

This renowned monk and celebrated father of the Latin Church 
was born under the reign of the Emperor Constantine, at Stridon, 2 
a town on the confines of Dalmatia and Pannonia. So obscure, 
however, was this place that geographers have not determined 
whether or not it ought to be considered as a part of Italy. From 

1 The life of Jerome has been written by Erasmus, and is prefixed to Jerome's works. 

2 Or Strigon. 



JEROME — CTEIL. 141 

the care bestowed on his education, it is certain that he was born a.d. 444. 
of an opulent family. He was sent to Rome, and there acquired 
the graces of the Latin tongue, and he was in his infancy instructed 
in the rudiments of the Christian faith. After his baptism at 
Eome, he travelled into France in company with Bonosus, a fel- 
low-student. He passed his time in study, or in conversation with 
learned men, and thence returning into Italy, he determined to 
follow the profession of a monk, a term which at that time did not ^nasticiife. 
convey the modern idea of the word. It meant only the life of a 
private, recluse Christian, but unfettered by rules and vows. Such 
a life suited the contemplative temper of Jerome. He was, how- 
ever, ordained a presbyter, but would not accept any higher eccle- 
siastical dignity. 

Not less than four years were passed by him in the deserts Resides at 
of Syria, where his application to study was intense. By the 
assistance of a Jew, who visited him clandestinely, he acquired a 
knowledge of the Hebrew tongue, to which he added the dialects 
of Syria and Chaldea. On his return to Eome, he cultivated the 
society of Paula (an illustrious descendant of the Pauli, so famous 
in Eoman story), Marcella, and other opulent ladies. By the ad- 
vice and assistance of Jerome, a monastery was formed, and the 
conventual life became fashionable at Eome. But his temper, being 
highly choleric and imperious, could not patiently bear the spleen 
and calumny by which he was attacked. Unjust aspersions against 
his character provoked him to an acrimonious and uncharitable 
recrimination. He retired again to the East, followed by several Retires from 

o 7 t/ Eome and. 

of his female admirers. Bethlehem was selected as the residence settles in 

of his old age, where Paula erected four monasteries, three for Palestme - 

women, over which she presided, and one for men, in which Jerome 

passed the remainder of his life, occasionally enjoying the society 

of his learned friends. Paula died after having lived twenty years 

in the monastery, and Jerome after he had reached the unusual Death - 

term of ninety-one years. 

His writings are voluminous, but not particularly instructive ; "^orks. 
his learning was considerable, but ill-digested ; and his piety was 
debased by superstition. His ' Commentaries on the Holy Scrip- 
tures ' and his ' Epistles' are the most esteemed of his works. The 
Benedictines have published an edition of the works of this father 
in five folio volumes. Cave, e Hist. Lit.' vol. i. ; Spanheim, ' Hist. 
Christ.' ssec. iv. 

CYRIL. 
a.d. 413-444. 

The biography of Cyril, bishop of Alexandria, will be comprised 
under the Nestorian heresy. His works, in six folio volumes, were 
published by Aubert at Paris, in the year 1638. Dupin, ' Bibhoth.' 
vol. iv. ; Spanheim, ' Hist. Christ.' ssec. v. 



142 



ECCLESIASTICAL WRITEBS — EIETH CESTTJBY. 



ISIDORE OF PELUSIUM. 

DIED A.D. 431. 

a.d. 410. This writer was a monk of Pelusium in Egypt, who conferred 
Character, honour on the monastic life. He lived in the practice of serious 
piety, and appears to have known the world much better, and 
to have been more useful in the Church, than might have been 
expected from a recluse. He was the disciple and the vindicator 
of Chrysostom. His works consist of five books of ' Epistles.' 
They are admirably written, and are to be recommended equally 
for the solidity of the matter and the elegance of the style. They 
have been published in a folio volume by the Jesuit Scott at Paris 
in 1638. Spanheim, ' Hist. Christ.' sssc. v. 



History of 
the Church. 



THEODORET. 
a.d. 386-457. 

SOCRATES.— SOZOMEK 

These three contemporary writers continued the history of the 
Church from the point at which the work of Eusebius ended. 
Socrates is a judicious writer, remarkable for his candour towards 
the Novatians and for his general impartiality. Sozomen is infe- 
rior to Socrates in judgment, and is favourable to a monastic life. 
Theodoret, bishop of Cyrus, was an eloquent and a copious writer 
in other works besides his history. In consequence of his supposed 
attachment to the Nestorian errors, he was condemned by the 
Synod of Ephesus, but was restored at the Fourth General Council 
held at Chalcedon. The works of Theodoret were edited by the 
Jesuit Sismond, in four folio volumes, and a fifth was added by 
Gamier. The histories of Theodoret, Sozomen, and Socrates, added 
to that of Eusebius, form three folio volumes. Spanheim, ' Hist. 
Christ.' sa9c. v. 

CASSIAN. 

DIED CIRCITER A.D. 410. 

This writer, who has been styled the founder of the Semi-pelagian 
school, was a disciple of Chrysostom. He spent the latter part of 
his fife at Marseilles, and probably quitted Constantinople at the 
Doctrines, time at which his master was banished from it. He asserted an 
inward grace, subject to freedom of the will, and that the first 
conversion of the soul to God is merely an effect of its free choice. 
The followers of Augustine allowed that Semi-pelagianism found in 
Cassian a powerful defender, and that his learning and morals 
were unquestionable. The works of Cassian were published at 
Frankfort in 1722, with a Commentary by Alardus Gazaus., Span- 
heim, ' Hist. Christ.' seec. v. 



GEEGOET I. THE GEEAT. 143 



OTHER WRITERS OF THE FIFTH CENTURY. 

Leo I., surnamed the Great, is at the head of the writers in the a.d. 590, 
Latin Church in this century, but his talents were chiefly applied Enumera- 
te) the extension of the pontifical authority. Hilary, bishop of 
Aries, famous for his quarrel with Leo, was a man of eloquence and 
humble piety. Prosper, a layman, and Primasius, an African 
bishop, are recorded as the disciples of Augustine. Among the 
Greek writers may be enumerated Basil of Seleucia, Theodotus of 
Ancyra, Gelasius of Cyzicum, Theodore of Mopsuesta, and Palladius, 
the biographer of Chrysostom. 



ECCLESIASTICAL WRITERS OF THE SIXTH CENTURY. 

The catalogue of this century is rather numerous than interest- Enumera- 
ing, and in vain shall we seek in it for a Chrysostom, an Augustine, tim ' 
or a Jerome. The most celebrated Greek and Oriental writers were 
Procopius of Gaza, a professor of oratory, and a useful commentator 
on Scripture ; Maxentius, a monk and a presbyter of Antioch, an 
opponent of the Nestorians and Acephali ; Theodoras of Byzantium, 
a writer on ecclesiastical history ; John, patriarch of Constantinople, 
surnamed the Faster, remembered chiefly for his ' Penitential ; ' 
Eulogius of Antioch, Leontius of Byzantium, and Anastasius of 
Sinai, all of them controversial writers. 

The Latin writers are more worthy of a distinct notice ; and 
among them, on account of his station, the precedence is due to 

GREGORY I. THE GREAT. 
a.d. 544-604. 

Gregory was born in Borne of a patrician family, about the year Birth. 
544. He early distinguished himself by his great powers of 
memory, and his acquirements in grammar, logic, rhetoric, and 
civil law. In the languages he was not equally versed, for he was 
wholly unacquainted even with Greek. Having filled the oifice of 
prsefect of Eome, he retired to a monastery of his own foundation, 
but not long after was appointed by Pope Pelagius II. to many 
honourable public stations, especially that of nuncio and secretary. 
On the death of that pontiff in 590, Gregory most reluctantly Pontificate. 
ascended the papal throne, which he filled with consummate ability. 
Among other points of ecclesiastical reform, his attention was 
much devoted to church music ; and it is to him that we are 
indebted for simplifying the characters and language of that art 
by introducing a notation by the first seven letters of the alphabet. 
The name of Gregory is celebrated in English history from his 



144 



ECCLESIASTICAL WEITEES — SIXTH CE5TCEY. 



Works. 



A.D. 604. mission for the conversion of our Islands. Notwithstanding the 
great aversion to letters with which he has been, perhaps 
unjustly, taxed, (for Brucker has accused him of burning the 
Palatine Library, which among other treasures contained the 
entire history of Livy), no Pope has written so largely. His chief 
works are ' Letters,' of which there are more than 800. A ' Com- 
mentary on Job, 5 a £ Pastoral,' or treatise on c Pastoral Duties,' 
6 Homilies,' and ' Dialogues.' The genuineness of the last-named 
work is doubted ; it is a storehouse of pseudo-miracles and marvels, 
and once enjoyed very great popularity. A splendid edition of his 
works was published at Paris in 1705, in four volumes folio, by 
St. Marthe, a Benedictine monk. c Acta Sanct.' torn. ii. Spanheim, 
' Hist. Christ.' ssec. 



VI. 



GREGORY, BISHOP OF TOURS. 






This prelate is esteemed the father of Gallic history'; his writin 
Character, discover considerable diligence, but little judgment. Levity and 
credulity are the characteristics of his c Annals of the Franks,' his 
'Miracles,' or 'Lives of the Saints,' and other writings. The 
best edition of his works is by Don Kuinart, 1699, folio. 



Enumera- 
tion. 



OTHER LATIX WRITERS. 

It is sufficient to enumerate without comment, Csesarius of Aries, 
a moral writer ; Fulgentius, bishop of Euspina, a noted polemic ; 
Eunodius, bishop of Pavia, an author both in prose and verse ; and 
at the close of the list, Boethius and Cassiodorus, the former of 
whom is conspicuous as an orator and philosopher as well as a 
divine. 



Branches of 

EtJTYCHIANISM. 



( 145 ) 



CHAPTEE VII. 

HERESIES OF THE FIFTH AND SIXTH CENTURIES. 

Nestorlans. 

eutychians, or monophysites. 

ACEPHALI. "1 

anthropomorphizes, 

Barsanumorphites. 

EsSATAXISTS. 

Jacobites. 

Severites. 

Maronites. 

Agnoet^e. 

Armenians. 

Egyptians or Copts, j 
Pelagians. 
Semi-pelagians. 
Predestinarians. 

Ik the beginning of the fifth century, the Donatists were de- A.d. 428, 
feated by the writings of Augustine, and the Arians, oppressed by 
the imperial edicts, were compelled to seek refuge among those 
barbarous nations who overturned the Western Empire. Under 
this depression of two dangerous heresies, a new sect, the cause of 
a fatal division in the Church, arose, known by the name of 

NESTORIANS. 

Nestorius was a native of Grermanicia, a monk of Antioch, and Account 
a disciple of Theodore of Mopsuesta. 1 After the peaceable and ^e^orians, 
mild usurpation of the episcopal throne of Chrysostom by Atticus, 
and the short and turbulent patriarchate of Sisinnius, the factions 
of the clergy and people were appeased by the choice which the 
Emperor made of a successor, a.d. 428. Theodosius selected a 
stranger, and Nestorius was indebted for his elevation to the xestorius 
austerity of his life, and the eloquence of his sermons. But the ^J s ° t p a °_ f 
first homily which he delivered before his imperial patron, evinced tinopie. 
that humility and charity were not among the number of his 
virtues. His accession to the see of Constantinople was marked 
by a fierce persecution of the Arians ; he discovered one of their Hi S intoier- 
secret conventicles, attacked it by force, and burned it to the ance - 
ground. Rigid was the commencement of his episcopal career, 
fierce was his zeal against every kind and degree of heresy, till the 
sword of persecution which he had so recklessly wielded against 
others was turned against himself. 

1 For an account of Xestorius see Socrat. Hist. lib. vii. c. 29. 



146 



HEEESIES OF THE FIFTH A3D SIXTH CEKTUEIES. 



a.d. 430. Educated in the Syrian school, Nestorius had been early taught 
to repudiate the confusion of the human with the Divine nature 
of Christ. The heresy of Apollinaris had blended these two 
natures ; for he maintained that the man Christ was not endowed 
with a human soul, but that the Divine spirit was substituted in 
its place. The Syrian doctors, in order that they might avoid 
the errors of Apollinaris, were careful in establishing a distinction 
between the Divine and human nature in the Son of God. 
Nestorius, who had adopted the sentiments of the teachers of his 
own country, was a violent enemy of the Apollinarian heresy, and 
the ruin of that sect was the first object of his government. He 
therefore strenuously enforced the Syrian doctrine in his own dis- 
courses, and strictly enjoined his disciples to discriminate accurately 
between the actions and passions of the Son of God, and those of 
the Son of man . 

His heresy. From the pulpit at Constantinople, the presbyter Anastasius, a 
friend of Nestorius, and his successor in the patriarchate, repeatedly 
declaimed against the use of the title of Mother of God, bestowed 
on the Virgin Mary. 1 It was a term, he asserted, unknown to the 
apostles, unauthorized by the Church, and adopted by the followers 
of Apollinaris in their controversy with the Arians. He, at the 
same time, gave it as his opinion, that the Yirgin Mary ought 
to be styled the Mother of Christ, rather than the Mother of 
God, since the Divinity can neither be born nor die. Nestorius 
applauded these sentiments, and re-echoed them. 

A vigorous opposition was soon begun against the patriarch and 
his presbyter, by some monks of Constantinople, who maintained 
that the Son of Mary was God incarnate ; they excited the 
populace against Nestorius, but without much effect. On the 
contrary, the monks of Egypt, after having perused the discourses 
of Nestorius, were converted to his opinions, and accordingly 
ceased to call the Virgin the Mother of God. 

The individual who at this time presided in the see of Alexandria 
was Cyril, a prelate who had been trained in the Alexandrian school. 
Under this discipline, he inclined rather to the sentiments of Apol- 
linaris, than to the opposite extremity, at which his antagonists 
had taken their position. His early life had been passed in 
monastic austerity, and indefatigable application to scholastic 
theology ; but his natural disposition fitted him for the tumults of 
cities and synods. By the voice of the people he had been seated 
on the patriarchal throne of Alexandria, and the prize was not un- 
worthy of his ambition. At a distance from the court, and at the 
head of an immense capital, he enjoyed the influence and authority 
of a civil magistrate. 2 

Cyril opened his patriarchal reign in the same manner as Nesto- 



Cyril 

bishop of 
Alexandria. 



His character. 



1 Basnage, Hist, de T Eglise, torn. i. p. 505. 2 Socrat. Hist. Eccl. lib. vii. c. 7. 



KESTOEIANS. 147 

rius, by the persecution of heresy ; and he began by oppressing the a.d. 431. 
Novatians. He interdicted their religious worship, and confiscated 
their sacred vessels. But his wrath was directed not only against 
Christian heretics, he expelled from Alexandria the Jews ; and the 
inhuman murder of Hypatia, a female heathen philosopher, who 
taught at Alexandria, will leave an indelible stain on his character, 1 
if we admit the charge brought against him by Demascius, that he 
was privy to the intention, and stimulated the fury of the zealots, 
who tore her to pieces in the streets. 

As soon as the opinions of Nestorius were known to Cyril, his ^g^^ 
pride and ambition prompted him to interfere. The successor of 
Athanasius thought it suitable to his station and character to en- 
counter a second Arius. After a short correspondence between the 
rival patriarchs, and after having engaged on his side Celestine the ceSSe? 
Eoman pontiff, Cyril assembled a Synod at Alexandria, and de- bishop of 
nounced the heretical opinions of the Byzantine by not less than 
twelve anathemata. Celestine, meantime, at the head of an Italian 
Synod, condemned not only the opinions of Nestorius, but de- 
graded the heretic from his episcopal dignity, and left the execu- 
tion of the sentence to the Alexandrian patriarch. 

JSTestorius, undaunted by this rash proceeding, retorted on his Nestorms is 
adversary the charge of heresy, charged him with the A.pollinarian the Emperor. 
errors, and loaded him with the same number of censures as had 
been levelled against himself. The Emperor Arcadius was equally 
indisposed with the patriarch of Constantinople to obey the sen- 
tence of an Italian Bishop, and a Synod of the Catholic Church was 
unanimously demanded as the sole remedy which could decide this 
unintelligible controversy. Theodosius called a Council at Ephesus, 
which is known in the annals of the Church as the third General 
Council. 2 

The festival of Pentecost was chosen for the time of meeting. First Council 
Both Nestorius and Cyril were summoned in their capacity of 
metropolitans, and though, contrary to fairness, Cyril presided, 
yet Nestorius appeared not as a criminal, but as a judge. Im- 
patient of delay, Cyril proposed to examine and determine the 
matters in debate before the arrival of the patriarch of Antioch 
and the Eastern bishops ; but Nestorius objected against this pro- 
ceeding as irregular and unjust. The trial, however, was begun ; 
sixty-eight bishops out of probably less than three hundred, de- 
fended the cause of Nestorius by a modest and temperate protest, 
but they were excluded from the deliberations of their brethren. 
Candidian, in the name of the Emperor, requested a delay of four 
days, but this magistrate was expelled from the assembly with in- 
sult and outrage. The whole of this important transaction was 

1 Suid. Lexicon, art. Hypatia. Tillemont, Hist. Eccles. torn. xv. 

2 Socrat. Hist. Eccl. lib. vii. Evagr. Hist* lib. i. c. 1, 2» 



148 HERESIES OF THE EIPTH AIST) SIXTH CENTURIES. 

a.d. 438. concluded in a single day. Nestorius was convicted of blasphemy 
xestoriusis against the Divine majesty, was degraded from his episcopal dig- 
condemned. n ity, and ultimately sent into exile. 1 

Opposition of On the fifth day after the promulgation of this sentence, the 
1 triumph of Cyril was clouded b} r the arrival of the Eastern bishops. 
With equal haste and violence the Oriental Synod, composed of 
fifty bishops, with John, patriarch of Antioch, at their head, de- 
graded the patriarch of Alexandria, and his creature Memnon, bishop 
of Ephesus, from then' episcopal honours, and described Cyril as a 
monster born and educated for the destruction of the Church. 
They appointed without delay another Bishop of Ephesus, but by 
the vigilance of Memnon a strong garrison was stationed in the 
cathedral ; the troops under the command of Candidian vainly en- 
deavoured to assault it, the place was impregnable, and the besiegers 
were repulsed with severe loss. 
between™ 6 ^ ne disputes between the Egyptian and Syrian theologians 
Crniand reached the imperial court, and Theodosius tried every method 
tioch. " to reconcile the controversialists. He summoned from each party 
eight deputies to a free conference in the neighbourhood of Con- 
stantinople, but he was compelled to dissolve the assembly, and 
the deputies returned to their provinces. After a long and equal 
contest. John of Antioch and Cyril of Alexandria came to an 
agreement, and Cyril was contented to receive from John certain 
1 Articles of Faith,' in which particular phrases and expressions 
liable to misinterpretation were abandoned, and was brought to 
acknowledge, though with reluctance, a twofold nature in Christ, 
an^deatn of ^e unfortunate Nestorius finding himself abandoned, thought 
xestorius. it more honourable to abdicate his office than to be forcibly ex- 
pelled from it, and his request that he might be allowed to with- 
draw to a life of privacy was granted. He was conducted from 
Ephesus to his old monastery of Antioch, and after a short in- 
terval, the patriarchate of Constantinople was filled successively 
by Maximian and Proclus. But in the retirement of a monastery, 
Nestorius was not long permitted to find repose. After a resi- 
dence of four years at Antioch, Theodosius signed an edict, pro- 
scribing his opinions, and consigning him to banishment ; first to 
Tetra in Arabia, and at length to Oasis, one of the places meta- 
phorically called Islands in the Libyan desert. While he was thus 
secluded, a wandering tribe of the Blemmyes, or Nubians, invaded 
the place of his confinement ; Nestorius fled from these barbarians 
to the banks of the Nile, and his flight was punished as a new 
crime. Cyril incited against him the civil and ecclesiastical powers 
of Egypt, by whom he was forcibly reconveyed as far as the con- 
fines of Ethiopia. Yet his mind was unsubdued, he survived his 

1 Variorum Patrnm Epistoln? ad Concil. Ephes. pertinentcs. Louvain, 1682. 
Tillemont, Eccles. M£m, torn. xiv. 



EUTTCHIASS. 149 

implacable enemy, and his death alone prevented the Conncil of a.d. 451. 
Chalcedon from restoring him to the communion of the Church, if 
not to his former honours. 1 

The persecution of Xestorius was far from stopping the progress Extension 
of his opinions. They spread with rapidity through all the Oriental iiSsm°~ 
provinces, and separate congregations were formed in decided hos- 
tility to the Council of Ephesus. The Persians opposed Cyril in 
the most vigorous manner, and charged him with confounding the 
two natures of Christ. But nothing tended so much to perpetuate 
the Nestorian doctrines, as their reception in the school of Edessa. 
In this school was educated Barsumas, afterwards bishop of Niphilis. 
This prelate laboured with incredible assiduity to procure for the 
Nestorians a settlement in Persia, and his efforts were seconded by 
Maanes, bishop of Ardascira. Barsumas not only persuaded Pher- 
ozes, the Persian monarch, to expel from his dominions such Christ- 
ians as had adopted the opinions of the Greeks, but also engaged 
him to put the Xestorians in possession of the see of Seleucia, the 
principal seat of ecclesiastical authority in Persia. 2 

The tenets of the Nestorians, as they were determined in several Nestonan 

. . . tenets 

Seleucian Councils, are in substance these : 1. That in the Saviour 
of the world, there were two hypostases, or persons, of which the 
one was Divine, or the Eternal Word, and the other human, or the 
man Christ Jesus. 2. That these two hypostases had only one 
outward appearance. 3. That the union between the Son of God 
and the Son of man was formed in the moment of the Virgin's con- 
ception, and was never to be dissolved. 4. That this union was 
not of nature or person, but of will and affection. 5. That Christ 
was to be carefully distinguished from God who dwelt in him as in 
a temple. 6. That Mary was to be called the mother of Christ, 
(XpivroTOKosS) and not the mother of God, (Qsqtgxo;.) 

EUTYCHIANS. 

One heresy begets another, and the heresy of Eutyches probably Eutyches. 
had never been known, if that of Nestorius had not previously 
subsisted. Its author was the abbot, or archimandrite of a con- 
vent at Constantinople. In the Council of Ephesus, he had signa- 
lized himself in disputation against the errors of jSTestorius ; but in 
his old age he was himself proscribed as a heretic. In exerting 
himself with undue vehemence against the Xestorian hypothesis, 
he taught that in Christ there was but one nature, namely, the 
Incarnate Word. The Byzantine pontiff, scandalized at this doc- 
trine, assembled a Synod in which Eutyches was condemned ; but 
he made his appeal to a General Council, and his cause was vigor- 
ously espoused by his godson Chrysaphius. By the special sum- SecondCoun- 
mons of the Emperor, a second Council was convened at Ephesus. s!is,°a.d P 499. 

1 Evagr. lib. ii. c. 2. 2 Spanheim, Hist. Christ, srec. v. 



150 



HERESIES OF THE EIETH A1STD SIXTH CENTURIES. 



A.D.451, 



Eutyches is 
pronounced 
Orthodox. 



Conventus 
Latronuni. 



Council of 
Chalcedon, 

A.D. 451. 

Epistle of 
Leo. 



Progress of 
the Euty- 
chian doc- 
trines. 



It was composed of ten metropolitans and ten bishops from each 
of the six dioceses of the Eastern Empire, but the entire number 
was afterwards increased to one hundred and thirty-five. The 
Syrian Barsumas, 1 as the chief and representative of the monks, 
was invited to sit and vote in the assembly. 2 

But the influence of the Alexandrian patriarch predominated in 
the second Council of Ephesus as well as in the first. The ortho- 
doxy of Eutyches was acknowledged without hesitation. " May 
those who divide Christ be divided with the sword," was the 
charitable wish of the Ephesian Synod. The patriarch of Con- 
stantinople was not without his adherents ; but Dioscorus, the 
faithful imitator of the arrogance of Cyril, as well as his successor 
in the patriarchate, triumphed on this occasion. Flavian, the Con- 
st antinopolitan pontiff, by the decree of this Synod, was scourged 
in the most inhuman manner, and banished to Epipas, a city of 
Lydia. Rightly did the Greeks denominate this assembly Ivvotiott 
AmrptKoif, a synod of robbers. 3 

At Ephesus, the Egyptian tenets prevailed, but the vanquished 
party engaged in their interest Leo the Great, bishop of Rome. 
Flavian also had courage to remonstrate with the Emperor, and 
to demand that the decision of so important a matter should be 
referred to an (Ecumenical Council. Leo seconded the request ; 
but though Theodosius would not accede, his successor Marcian 
consented to the proposal. The Council of Chalcedon met, which 
is reckoned the fourth General Council. 4 

Leo had already declared his creed in an epistle, or rather volume, 
on the mystery of the 'Incarnation,' but his condemnation of the 
Eutychian doctrine had been disregarded by the Council of Ephesus. 
In the grand Council of Chalcedon Leo presided, and in con- 
sequence of his great influence, Dioscorus was condemned, deposed, 
and banished into Paphlagonia, the acts of the Council of Ephesus 
were annulled, and the ' Epistle' of Leo, having been subscribed by 
the Oriental bishops, was received as a rule of faith. In the 
Western Churches this letter was received with still more defer- 
ence, for it was publicly read during the season of Advent. The 
Emperor Marcian supported the Roman pontiff, and was prepared 
to enforce the edicts of the Chalcedonian Council by the sword. 

Different were the sentiments of the Egyptian theologians. 
Though they entertained contradictory opinions on many other ques- 
tions, yet they concurred in opposing the Council of Chalcedon and 
the Epistle of Leo. On the death of the Emperor Marcian, the 
populace assembled tumultuously in Egypt, massacred Porterius, 



1 This person must be distinguished from Barsumas, bishop of Niphilis. 

2 Concil. torn. iv. p. 1413. 3 Niceph. Eccl. Hist. lib. xiv. c. 67. 

4 This Council, by the summons of the Emperor, first assembled at Nice in Bithynia, 
and afterwards removed to Chalcedon. Its Acts are contained in Concil. torn. iv. pp. 
761-2071. 



ETTTYCHIAKS. 151 

the successor of Dioscorus, and substituted in his place Timotheus a.d. 482. 
iElurus, a defender of the Monophysite or Eutychian doctrine. 
The triumph of the Chalcedonians was decided in the choice of a 
successor, but that triumph was of short duration. The see of 
Alexandria was finally filled by Mongus, a noted Eutychian. 

Syria also and Armenia were theatres of Eutychian contention. 
The abbot Barsumas, having been condemned by the Council of 
Chalcedon, chose Syria as the place of his residence, and diligently 
propagated his opinions. By the assistance of his disciple Samuel, 
he spread them among the Armenians. 

The patriarchal see of Antioch, as well as that of Alexandria, Theopas- 
was filled by a Monophysite. Fullo, or, as he was more generally c ltes 
called, Peter the Fuller, having, after a violent opposition, been 
fixed there by the authority of the Emperor Zeno, excited a new 
discord, by attempting to form a new sect. In the hymn 
called ' Trisagium,' after the words "0 God most holy," he 
ordered the following phrase to be added, " who hast suffered 
for us on the cross ;" and the addition was adopted by the 
Eastern Churches. His design was to impress on the people 
the Monophysite doctrine ; but his adversaries charged him with 
maintaining the passion of the Godhead, and opprobriously called 
his adherents Theopaschites. 1 

To put an end to this controversy, which during the space of Henoticon 
thirty years had occasioned great disorders in Church and State, ° eno ' 
the Emperor Zeno, by the advice of Acacius, patriarch of Constan- 
tinople, published the famous ' Henoticon, 5 or ' Decree of Union.' 
This decree contained a solemn anathema against Nestorius, 
Eutyches, and all heretics by whom Christ is either divided or 
confounded. The Councils of Nice, Constantinople, and Ephesus 
were confirmed, but the fourth Council was annulled by the censure 
of all doctrines contrary to its decrees. Thus the friends and 
enemies of the last Council of Chalcedon were invited to a recon- 
ciliation; and both Mongus and Fullo subscribed the Decree 
of Union. 2 

The distinguishing tenet of the Eutychian or Monophysite sect Eutychian 
was, that in Christ there was but one nature, that of the Incarnate tenets - 
Word. This tenet was modified by Barsumas, and having rejected 
the Eutychian definition, that the human nature of Christ was 
absorbed by the Divine, he framed the following proposition, — 
That in the Son of God there was one nature, which, notwith- 
standing its unity, was double and compounded. The definition 
of Leo, which is still esteemed to be the orthodox doctrine, is to 
this effect : That in Christ two distinct natures were united in one 
person, without any change, mixture, or confusion. 

1 Norris, Lib. de uno ex Trinitate came passo. Opera, torn. iii. 

2 Evaor. Hist. Eccl. lib. iii. c. 14, 



Eutychian 
ism. 



152 HEEESIES OP THE ITETH AND SIXTH CENTUEIES. 

MODIFICATIONS OF THE EUTYCHIAN HERESY. 

a.d. 400. 1. The term Monophysites has been already mentioned as syno 
Modesof nymous with Eutychians, 2. The Acephah. Certain Eutychians 
looking on the conduct of Mongus, patriarch of Alexandria, as 
highly criminal, because he had subscribed the ' Henoticon,' formed 
themselves into a new faction, under the title of Acephah, or head- 
less, since by the submission of Mongus they were deprived of their 
chief. 3. Subdivisions of this branch took place into Anthropo- 
morphites, Barsanumorphites, and Essaianists. 4. The Jacobites, 
who derived their name from James Baradseus or Zanzalus, 1 
although the sect affect to derive their origin from James the 
Apostle. 5. The Severites, called from one Severus of Antioch. 
6. Maronites, from Maron the founder ; and Monothelites, because 
they asserted a unity of will. 7. Agnoetss, because they main- 
tained that Christ was ignorant of the day of judgment. 8. 
Arminians, who, by the instigation of Ethanius, rejected the 
Council of Chalcedon, and who have always maintained the Mono- 
physite or Eutychian doctrine. 9. Egyptians, or Copts, who 
long maintained the same doctrine, till the theological labours of 
Eulogius, and the diffusive charity of John, successively patriarchs 
of Alexandria, brought them to the orthodox faith. 



PELAGIANS. 

Account of Pelagius 2 was a native of Wales, and was in his own time called 
Caiestim 11 Brito. His associate Cselestius, according to the testimony of 
Jerome, was an Irishman, or, according to the common phraseology, 
a Scot ; though others assert that he was born in Campania in 
Italy. They were both laymen ; the former by profession a monk ; 
the latter having in early life applied himself to the study of the 
law, quitted it for a monastic life. Their morals were not only 
unimpeached, but exemplary ; for though Jerome in the heat of 
controversy accused Pelagius of gluttony and intemperance, 
yet the more candid Augustine bears testimony to the virtues 
of the heresiarch. Augustine also frankly admits that the 
genius and capacity of Pelagius and Cselestius were of the first 
order. 
They settle Pelagius had travelled from monastery to monastery through 
various parts of the Empire, and at length, with his companion, 
fixed his residence at Rome. Both of them enjoyed a high 
reputation, and not the least suspicion was attached to their 
orthodoxy. According to the testimony of Isidore of Pelusium 
and Chrysostom, the heretical opinions of Pelagius did not appear 

1 Renaudot, Hist. Patriarch. Alex. p. 133. 

2 In the Welsh language Morgan, i.e. born near the sea. Spanheim, Hist. Christ, 
ssec. v. vi. vii. 



PELAGIANS. 153 

till he was far advanced in life. His peculiar notions were pro- a.d. 415. 
pagated at Rome, but under privacy and in disguise ; for Augustine 
himself owned that his first works were so artfully composed as to 
deceive even his penetration. Pelagius was accustomed to insinuate 
his peculiar notions by proposing them under the modest form of 
queries, while Cselestius, more open and daring, pursued a method 
which exposed him to detection. 

On the approach of the Groths to Eome, a.d. 410, the two They retire 
friends were obliged to retire from that city, and went first into from Eome " 
Sicily, whence they passed over to Africa. Pelagius was received ^falsTii 
at Hippo, in the absence of Augustine, but his stay was short ; Palestine, 
Augustine saw him once or twice at Carthage, but nothing material 
passed between them. Quitting Africa, Pelagius settled in 
Palestine, and there his writings attracted the notice and the 
censure of Jerome. Jerome wrote against him, calling on him to 
explain his doctrine of grace more clearly, and not to conceal it 
under ambiguous expressions. 1 

In the meantime, Cselestius, who remained in Africa, more and Cseies- 
openly discovered his sentiments, and made such undisguised LlUb 
attempts to propagate them in Carthage itself, that he was sum- 
moned to appear before a S} r nod, convened by Aurelius, bishop of 
that city. He was accused of denying original sin, and when he 
was pressed with the practice of the Church in baptizing infants 
before the commission of actual sin, he declared that infants had 
no need of remission, and that their baptism implied their sancti- 
fication in Christ, or admission into the kingdom of heaven. 
Caelestius was not only condemned as a heretic, but disappointed of He is con- 
his hope of rising in the Church, for he had obtained, or was about a e synod at 
to obtain, the rank of presbyter. Carthage. 

Under this censure, Cselestius retired from Africa, and fixed Leaves 
himself once more in Sicily, a.d. 412. Pelagius in the East had ^JoSX* 
better success, since he enjoyed the friendship and protection of sicay. 
John, bishop of Jerusalem. That prelate being attached to the Pelagius 
doctrines of Origen, was naturally induced to countenance those of ^fcpro- 
Pelagius, on account of the seeming conformity between the two ^ es , si( J n of 
systems. Under the favour of this powerful friend, Pelagius made 
a public profession of his creed, and gained disciples in several 
places. Orosius, a Spanish presbyter, scandalized at his conduct, 
was his public accuser, and he was summoned to answer the 
accusation before an assembly of bishops at Jerusalem, but was 
dismissed without censure. He was next cited, a.d. 415, before a 
Synod of fourteen Bishops of Palestine at Lydda, then called synod of 
Diospolis. At this Synod, John of Jerusalem defended Pelagius pSjKjJfia 
with earnestness and eloquence, and the result was an acquittal of acquitted. 

1 It is impossible to obtain an impartial history of this heresy from the -works of 
Augustine and Jerome, the opponents of Pelagius himself, or those of Jansenius and 
Usher, the opponents of the Pelagian doctrines. 



154 



HERESIES OF THE EIETH XKD SIXTH CENTURIES. 



A.D.418. 



Council of 
Carthage. 



Epistle to 
Innocent. 



Zosimns 
succeeds to 
the Roman 
pontificate. 



Pelagius and 
Cselestius 
censured by 
Zosimus. 



the accused heretic. 1 He was pronounced uninfected with error, 
and received as a Christian brother. Pelagius wrote to Augustine 
an account of his acquittal, and more openly asserted his opinion 
against original sin. 

A Council having met at Carthage in the succeeding year, on 
various exigencies of the Church, Orosius brought the conduct of 
Pelagius before it. The acts of the Synod of Diospolis were not 
formally produced, yet the information of Orosius was deemed a 
sufficient ground for proceeding. The Council transmitted to 
Innocent, the Poman pontiff, its decision on the merits of the 
dispute. It was to this effect : that unless Pelagius and his 
followers explicitly rejected the opinions ascribed to them, they 
should be excommunicated. Another Synod, composed of Numi- 
dian bishops, and assembled at Milevum, wrote also to Pome 
to the same purpose. Augustine and his two friends, Alypius, 
bishop of Tagasta, and Aurelius, bishop of Carthage, wrote 
letters in then' own names to Innocent, intimating that the 
Synod of Diospolis had probably been imposed on by the sub- 
tilty of Pelagius, and expressing a fear lest Pome itself, having 
been the place of his residence, should become the seat of his 
heresy. 

Innocent, in his answer, fully coincided with the views of the 
African prelates, and in the same conditional manner condemned 
Pelagius and his adherents. But Innocent dying soon after, 
Zosimus succeeded to the pontificate, and Cselestius, who had then 
obtained the degree of presbyter, visited Pome at the commence- 
ment of the new pontiff's reign. Zosimus appears to have been 
gained over by the ambiguous and artful Confession of Faith which 
Cselestius had drawn up and presented. He was not less influenced 
by the letters and protestations of Pelagius. He therefore wrote 
to the African prelates, declaring that unless he should hear more 
decisive proofs against Cselestius, he should receive him as a 
Christian brother. 2 

The Bishops of Africa, with Augustine at then- head, were little 
affected by this declaration, and persevered in maintaining their 
former judgment. Zosimus at length yielded to the strength of 
their arguments, and Cselestius, fearing a trial, declined to submit 
to an examination. The pontiff pronounced a severe condemnation 
against Pelagius and Cselestius, whom he had honoured by his 
approbation, and secured by his protection. 

This public censure of Zosimus was succeeded by a number of 
edicts and anathemata. The Emperor Honorius passed a sentence 
of banishment on the followers of Pelagius in the same year in 
which Zosimus censured their doctrines. Cselestius retired to 



1 Daniel, Histoire de Concile de Diospolis. 

2 Wall, in his History of Infant Baptism, gives a good account of the Pelagian 
controversy. 



PELAGIANS. 155 

Constantinople, where his tenets were opposed by Atticus, the a.d. 420. 
bishop who denounced the sect in letters to Eome. Pelagius, who 
was still in Palestine, complained of the treatment which he had 
received, and being there interrogated concerning the disputed 
points, answered with such art and ambiguity that he again 
imposed on his examiners, who explained in writing the result to 
Augustine. The indefatigable bishop of Hippo wrote his treatise 
■ on Original Sin,' and ' the Grace of Christ,' in which he detected 
and exposed the Pelagian artifices. 

Notwithstanding the decree of the Emperor, Cselestius ventured 
again to show himself in Eome, and again drew on himself an 
edict of expulsion, a.d. 420. The two heretics were afterwards 
reduced to a state the most humiliating to ardent and aspiring 
minds — a state of obscurity. The British islands were, it is certain, 
afterwards disturbed by the Pelagian doctrines, which were over- 
come by the skill and authority of Germanus. Hence it is Their end 
probable that Cselestius accompanied Pelagius to those countries ; 
but this is no more than a probable supposition, for their fate is 
involved in uncertainty. 

The tenets of Pelagius, as charged upon him by the Council Pelagian 
of Carthage, are comprised in the following particulars. 1. That enets * 
Adam had mortality in his nature, and whether he had sinned 
or not would certainly have died. 2. That the consequences of 
Adam's sin were confined to his own person, and the rest of man- 
kind were not involved in it. 3. That the law qualified men 
for the kingdom of heaven, and was founded on equal promises 
with the gospel. 4. That before the coming of our Saviour, 
there were some men who lived without sin. 5. That newly 
born infants are in the same condition with Adam before his fall. 

6. That the death and disobedience of Adam is not the neces- 
sary cause of death to all mankind, neither does the general resur- 
rection of the dead follow in virtue of our Saviour's resurrection. 

7. That if man exert himself to the utmost, he may keep 
the Divine commands without difficulty, and preserve himself in 
a state of innocence. 8. That unless rich men parted with 
their whole estates, their virtues would be of no avail, notwith- 
standing the advantage of their baptism, neither could they be 
qualified for the kingdom of heaven. 9. That the grace and 
assistance of God are not granted for the performance of every 
moral act ; the liberty of the will and information in the points of 
duty being sufficient for this purpose. 10. That the grace of 
God is given in proportion to human merit. 11. That none 
can be called the sons of God unless they are perfectly free from 
sin. 12. That our victory over temptation is not gained by 
God's assistance, but by the liberty of the will. These were the 
tenets ascribed to Pelagius, which, it is said, he recanted or 
explained away at the Synod of Diospolis. 



156 HEEESIES OP THE FIFTH A3T> SIXTH CENTURIES. 

SEMI-PELAGIANS. 

a.d. 440. A more palatable modification of the doctrines of Pelagius was 
Ca^ian the g* vei1 by Cassian, a monk, who came from the East into France, 
founder of and erected a monastery near Marseilles. Yitatis of Carthage, 
lagianhe? 6 " who taught that our obedience to the gospel was no otherwise the 
resv,A.D.430. e ff ec £ f grace than that men cannot believe unless the word be 
preached to them, has, however, been thought by some to be its 
author. Yet to Cassian is generally attributed the honour or 
disgrace of founding the Semi-pelagian school, In Gaul, the 
doctrines of Cassian spread with great rapidity, but they were 
combated by Prosper and Hilary. The sect arose in the latter 
days of Augustine, and in opposition to it, this celebrated father 
wrote his last two books on ' Predestination 5 and the ; Gift of 
Perseverance.' 
semi-peia- Many divines have attempted to fix on a middle way between 
gian tenets. £he errors of Pelagius and the opinions of Augustine. The leading 
principles of the Semi-pelagians have been thus stated : — 1. That 
God did not dispense his grace to one more than another, in conse- 
quence of an absolute and eternal decree, but was willing to save 
all men, if they complied with the terms of the gospel. 2. That 
Christ died for all mankind. 3. That the grace purchased by 
Christ and necessary to salvation was offered to all men. 4. That 
man before he received this grace was capable of faith and holy 
desires. 5. That man was born free, and was consequently capable 
of resisting the influences of grace, or of complying with its sug- 
gestions. 1 

PREDESTINARIANS. 

Doctrines. As there were some who attempted to define a middle way be- 

tween Augustine and Pelagius, there were others who went beyond 
them to either extremity. Among those who might be termed 
Ultra- Augustinians were the Predestinarians. In the course of his 
controversy with Pelagius, Augustine had delivered his opinion con- 
cerning the necessity of divine grace to human salvation, and the 
decrees of God with respect to the future condition of man, in a 
manner not always consistent with himself or intelligible to others. 
Hence certain monks of Adrumetum and others were led into a 
notion that " God not only predestinated the wicked to eternal 
punishment, but also to the guilt and transgression for which they 
were punished.'' Hence it followed, that all the good and evil 
actions of men were determined from eternity by a divine decree, 
and fixed by an invincible necessity. 

Those who embraced this opinion were styled Predestinarians. 
Augustine exerted all his weight to prevent the dissemination of 

1 Spanheim, Hist. Christ, sa^c. v. 



GENEBAL 0BSEBVATI02TS. 157 

this doctrine, and, in order to avoid the imputation of having a. d. 450. 
favoured it, explained his sentiments with greater perspicuity. Existence of 
His efforts were seconded by the Councils of Aries and Lyons, in J^ed? 
which the Predestinarian doctrine was publicly condemned. The 
existence of this sect has been denied by many, and its invention 
regarded as an artifice of the Semi-pelagians. 1 

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 

The heresies of the fifth and sixth centuries have been divided Remarks. 
into two classes, those which regard the incarnation, and those 
which relate to the extent of divine grace, and its interference 
with human liberty, and both continued to disturb the peace of 
the Church during the century which succeeded. In addition to 
the new sects which arose within this period, it must be observed 
that many of those which had sprung up in the earlier ages of the 
Church were far from being extirpated. The Manichseans were 
said to have gained such an influence in Persia as to have cor- 
rupted the son of Cabades, the monarch of that nation. The 
Arians were triumphant in several parts of Asia, Africa, and 
Europe. They were secretly favoured by many of the Asiatic 
bishops, and their cause was openly espoused by the Vandals in 
Africa, the Goths in Italy, and the Suevi in Graul. The state of 
Christian heresies, as well as of the Catholic Church, was mate- 
rially changed by an event of vast importance in the history of the 
world — the rise and progress of the Mohammedan power. 2 

1 Mosheim, Eccl. Hist. Cent. v. c. 5. 

2 Vide Hist, of the Ottoman Empire, by Col. Procter, &c. 



( 158 ) 



CHAPTEE VIII. 

HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IX THE SEVENTH AND 
EIGHTH CENTURIES. 



A.D. 684 

Western 
Church in- 
creases in 
power as 
the Eastern 
Church de- 
clines. 



Constantine 
Pogonatus 
abandons 
the imperial 
power of con- 
firming the 
election of 
the popes. 

Degeneracy 
of monastic 
institutions, 



At the time when the rapid success of the Mohammedan religion 
threatened the destruction, not only of the Greek Church, but of 
the Eastern Empire, the Latin Church was gaining an accession 
to its power and privileges, and also an extension of its limits. 
Besides the danger which threatened the Greeks from the military 
conquests of a new religious sect, they were so entirely occupied 
by their theological disputes, that they had little solicitude for the 
propagation of Christianity among infidel nations. The Bishops of 
Rome, and the Church over which they presided, neglecting the 
cultivation of letters and philosophy, were intent on the enlarge- 
ment and the extension of their pre-eminence and authority. But 
that disposition, as it led them to establish their supremacy over 
the barbarous nations of the north and west of Europe, incited 
them to attempt also the necessary preliminary of converting those 
nations to the Christian faith. 

The foundation of the Anglo-Saxon Church, and the encroach- 
ments of the popes, both on the absolute independence of the 
ancient British and Irish Churches, and also on the limited de- 
pendence which subsisted between the original Saxon Church and 
the see of Rome, will be related subsequently. The ambitious 
views of the Romish bishops over the other parts of the Western 
Empire, though at first resisted, were ultimately successful. It is 
affirmed by the Latin historians, that the Emperor Constantine 
Pogonatus formally abandoned the privilege of confirming by his 
approbation the election of the Bishops of Rome, a.d. 684 ; and it 
is indisputable that he abated or remitted the sum which, since 
the time of Theodoric, they had been obliged to pay into the im- 
perial treasury before their election was confirmed. 1 

Nothing contributed more to the extension of the papal power 
than the increase and the degeneracy of monachism. In the estab- 
lishments originally consecrated to the service of God there was a 
lamentable decay both of learning and morality. The most bitter 
dissensions also took place between the seculars and monastics, 
during which the latter had recourse to the alliance of the Roman 
pontiffs. The popes gradually exempted the monastic orders from 
the jurisdiction of the bishops ; and the monks, in return for this 



1 Muratori, Scriptor. Rerum Italic, torn. iii. Spanheim, Hist. Christ, ssec. vii. sec, 
13. Anastas. Vit. Pontif. in Beuedic. II. 



EXTENSION OF THE PAPAL POWEB. 159 

immunity, devoted themselves to advance the interest and dignity a.d. 751. 
of the popedom. 1 

The opulence of the clergy, augmented as it now was by extra- And of the 
vagant bequests and donations, occasioned a general corruption of ciergy! 
manners in the Church. -An opinion generally prevailed that the 
punishments of another world might be averted by liberal dona- 
tions to churches and ecclesiastics ; and the great and wealthy, who 
had been remarkable for their flagitious lives, thought to appease 
the divine wrath by their munificence to the ministers of religion. 
The Roman pontiff was the chief gainer by this lavish secular 
bounty during the seventh and eighth centuries. The barbarous 
nations who received the gospel regarded the Bishop of Rome as 
the successor of their chief druid or high priest, and paid to him 
similar honours. Hence arose the popular notion, that such per- 
sons as were excluded from the Church by the pontiff or by any 
other bishop forfeited not only their civil rights but the common 
privileges of humanity. This opinion, which was the prolific source 
of wars and rebellions, was borrowed from the pagan superstitions 
and encouraged by Christian Home. 

Constantine, at the commencement of the eighth century, was 
the first pope who assumed those lofty titles which his successors 
persevered in claiming, and arrogated a right of confirming tem- 
poral princes in their dominions. When Felix, the exarch of Felix, ex- 
Ravenna, journeyed to Rome for consecration by the pontiff, and Ravenna, 
refused to pay a tribute demanded on that occasion, the unfortu- ^^ b 
nate prince was sent to Constantinople, where the Emperor de- Justinian il 
prived him of sight, and sent him back to Rome, as a rebel against 
the apostolic see. 2 The same emperor, Justinian II., offered the 
pontiff the homage of prostration and kissing his feet. 

It was not, however, from the Emperor that the Roman pontiffs 
derived the largest accessions of authority, but from the French 
nation. Pepin, who was originally mayor of the palace to Chil- ? e P in a £ 

.. o «/ «/ j. v&nces tne 

deric III., and in this capacity virtually possessed regal power, temporal 
aspired to the title, as well as the authority, of sovereign, and Ronfan°pon- 
formed the design of dethroning his master. For that purpose tiffs - 
the estates of the realm were convened by the usurper, and pro- 
bably by his instigation they delivered an opinion that the Bishop 
of Rome was to be consulted, whether such a project were lawful 
or not. In consequence of that opinion ambassadors were sent, 
a.d. 751, by Pepin to Zachary, the reigning pontiff, with the 
following question : — Whether the divine law did not permit a 
valiant and a warlike people to dethrone a pusillanimous and 
indolent monarch, who was incapable of discharging the functions 
of royalty, and to substitute in his place one who was more worthy 

1 Muratori, Antiq. Italic, tom. ii. pp. 944-949. 

2 Anastas. Vit. Pontif. Vit. Constant. I. 



160 CHEISTIAIS" CHURCH — SEVENTH USD EIGHTH CEOTFEIES. 

a.d. 774. to rule, and who had already rendered most important services to 
the state ? Zachary, who stood in need of the assistance of Pepin 
against his enemies the Greeks and Lombards, returned a favourable 
answer to the usurper. In pursuance of an opinion delivered by 
an authority now esteemed sacred, the unhappy Childeric was 
deposed, and Pepin, without the smallest opposition, seated him- 
self on the throne of France. The decision of Zachary was con- 
firmed by his successor, Stephen II., who undertook a journey into 
France to solicit assistance against the Lombards, and at the same 
time dissolved the oath of allegiance which Pepin had sworn to 
Childeric, but which he had shamelessly violated. 1 
Roman pon- The advantages derived by the Eoman pontiffs from their at- 
Grecfanpro- 6 tachment to the kings of France were important. They gradually 
itaiyf* m became masters of the Grecian provinces in Italy, which had been 
subject to the exarchs of Ravenna. When Astolpho, king of the 
Lombards, meditated the conquest of Rome and its territory, 
Stephen II. addressed himself to Pepin. The French monarch 
espoused the cause of the terrified pontiff with zeal. He crossed 
the Alps with a numerous army, and having defeated Astolpho, 
obliged the vanquished king to deliver up to the see of Rome the 
exarchate of Ravenna and all the cities which he had seized belong- 
ing to the Roman dukedom. The Lombard king having violated 
this treaty shortly after its conclusion, Pepin returned into Italy, 
compelled Astolpho to execute the terms, and made a formal grant 
of the exarchate to the Roman pontiff and his successors in the 
apostolic see of Saint Peter. 2 
Grants of Dideric, king of the Lombards, renewed an attack on the patri- 

firmed^y" mony of Saint Peter after the death of Pepin, and Adrian I., who 
Cnarie- was at that time pontiff, applied to Charlemagne, the son of Pepin. 
That prince, whose veneration for the Roman see was rather the 
offspring of policy than of superstition, declared himself without 
He over- • hesitation on the side of the pontiff. He crossed the Alps with a 
exarciJte of formidable army, and terminated the contest between the Bishops 
^ v ™ a ' of Rome and the kings of Lombardy for ever. The exarchate of 
Ravenna was overthrown ; its vanquished prince was sent into 
France, and Charlemagne proclaimed himself king of the Lom- 
bards. The conqueror visited Rome, where it is said he not only 
confirmed the grants which Pepin had made to its bishops, but 
added to them new donations. By these acts he opened a way to 
the attainment of an object which Pepin had contemplated, but 
was unable to accomplish, he was enabled to gain the authority, as 
well as to assume the title, of Emperor of the West. While he 
reserved to himself the nominal sovereignty over the metropolis of 

1 This remarkable event is differently related by different historians. See Mosheim, 
Eccl. Hist. vol. ii. Cent. viii. p. 2. Spanheim, Hist. Christ, scec. viii. sec. 4. 

2 The existence of the grant by Pepin has been hotly controverted. Ariosto slyly 
places it among the deperdita treasured in the moon. 



/ 

MTJEDER OE KILLAN. 161 

the West, he granted to the Church a subordinate jurisdiction a.d. 688. 
over the city and the adjacent territory. 1 

It is impossible to deny that the progress of Christianity in the 
West was simultaneous with the growth of the papal power ; but 
the work of conversion was not undertaken by the popes. The 
British, Scottish, and Irish ecclesiastics were the principal mis- 
sionaries. Through them Germany was brought to the knowledge 
of Christianity, and the Scottish and Irish convents still subsist- 
ing in Germany attest the pious zeal of those nations. 

Columban, an Irish monk, aided by a few companions, had, in Missionary 
the preceding century, extirpated the ancient superstitions of Gaul, coimSn? 
in which country idolatry had taken its deepest root. He then 
extended his travels among the Suevi, the Boii, the Franks, and 
other German nations, and persevered in his pious labours until 
his death, a.d. 615. Saint Gal, one of his companions, laboured Death. 
in the same cause among the Helvetii around the lakes of Zurich Saint Gai. 
and Constance. Near the latter lake, at a small distance from 
Bregent, he erected a monastery which still bears his name. In 
fortitude and zeal he was inferior to none of his contemporaries, 
although little is recorded of his virtues. 

The history of Killan, another Irish missionary, is better known. Saint Killan 
He received a commission from the Bishop of Rome to preach the 
gospel among the infidels, and with some of his disciples he came 
to Wirtzburg upon the Mayne, a city under the government of a 
pagan duke called Gosbert. Gosbert embraced Christianity and 
was baptized ; but having married his brother's wife, Killan ven- 
tured to imitate the example of John the Baptist towards Herod, 
and experienced a similar fate, a.d. 688. In the absence of Gos- Murdered 
bert, Grilana, the German Herodias, procured the murder of Kil- companions 
Ian and his companions, and Gosbert was prevailed on by the 
artifices of his consort to suffer the murderers to escape with im- 
punity. 

Towards the conclusion of this century Willebrod, a native of wmebrod. 
England, with eleven of his countrymen, 2 crossed over into Hol- 
land to preach the gospel among the Frieslanders ; thence they 
passed into Fosteland, but having been cruelly treated by Radbod, 
king of the Frieslanders, who put Wigbert, one of the company, 
to death, they visited Cimbria and the adjacent parts of Denmark, 
and returned to Friesland. Their second visit was more prosperous 
than the first. Willebrod was ordained Bishop of Wilteburg 
(Utrecht) by the Roman pontiff, and died among the Batavians 

1 The extent of Charlemagne's grant is disputed between the partizans of the popes 
and those of the emperors. Adrian affirms that Charlemagne intended to atone for 
his sins by his liberality to the Church. A letter from that pontiff to the Emperor is 
contained in Muratori/ Script. Rerum Italic, torn. iii. p. 11. 

2 Suidbert, Wigbert, Acca, Wilibald, Unibald, Lebwin, the two Ewalds, Werenfrid, 



Marcellin, and Adalbert. 



M 



162 CHRISTIAN CHURCH — SEVENTH AND EIGHTH CENTURIES. 



A.D. 700. 
Winfrid. 



Goes to 
Friesland. 



Receives a 
commission 
rrom Gre- 
gory II. 



Settles in 
Friesland. 



Returns to 
Rome 



in a good old age, while his associates continued their labours in 
Westphalia and the neighbouring countries. 

But the greatest luminary of Germany in this century was an 
Englishman named Winfrid, born at Kirton in Devonshire. From 
his infancy he was brought up in monastic habits, and the place of 
his education was Nutrell, in the diocese of Winchester. There 
he was instructed in the sacred and profane learning of the times. 
At the age of thirty he was ordained priest by the recommenda- 
tion of his abbot, and his inclinations led him to exercise his 
ministry in the conversion of pagan nations. He went to Fries- 
land, accompanied by two monks, and immediately proceeded to 
Utrecht, where Willebrod had already displayed his Christian zeal. 
But a war breaking out between Badbod, king of Friesland, and 
Charles Martel, Winfrid thought it prudent to return to England, 
and settled himself once more in his monastery. 

On the death of the abbot of Nutrell, the fraternity would have 
elected Winfrid into the vacant seat ; but the missionary, keeping 
his purposed destination in view, declined the proffered dignity. 
Having obtained recommendatory letters from the Bishop of Win- 
chester, he went to Borne and presented himself to the pope, ex- 
pressing a desire of being employed in the conversion of infidels. 
Gregory II. approved his undertaking, and gave him a commission 
of the most ample and unhmited nature. 

With that commission Winfrid passed into Bavaria and Thurin- 
gia. In the first country he reformed Churches which had been 
already planted, in the second he planted Churches where none had 
previously existed. But his stay in either of them was not long. 
He learned that the obstacles which opposed his labours in Fries- 
land were removed, and thither he immediately hastened. Bad- 
bod, king of the Frisons, a patron of idolatry, was dead. Winfrid, 
therefore, joined the venerable Willebrod, and these two mission- 
aries co-operated in their labours. 

Willebrod, declining in strength, chose Winfrid for his successor; 
but the latter refused the offer, since the pope had commissioned 
him to preach the gospel in the eastern parts of Germany. Wil- 
lebrod acquiesced in the resolution of Winfrid, and dismissed his 
coadjutor with a blessing. The younger missionary departed im- 
mediately, and went to Hesse, where his preaching was eminently 
successful, although he was occasionally obliged to support himself 
by the labour of his own hands, and was exposed to imminent 
peril from the rage of barbarous infidels. 

After some time he returned to Borne, was received with great 
kindness by Gregory II., consecrated Bishop of the newly-founded 
German Churches, under the name of Boniface (a Roman name, 
seeming more likely to procure respect than one of English origin), 
and took an oath of subjection to the papal authority. Boniface, 
encouraged by the addition of fresh missionaries from England, 



LABOTTKS OP BOKEFACE. 163 

returned with alacrity to the scene of his pastoral care. Passing a.d. 738. 
through Hesse, he confirmed by imposition of hands several con- And lastly to 
verts who had already been baptized, and exerted himself vigor- Friesland - 
ously in suppressing idolatry. Charles Martel, whose dominions 
extended over Germany, distinguished the zealous Bishop by the 
protection of regal authority. 

Boniface, however, retained a strong attachment for his native His corres- 
country and his early friends. His intimacy with Daniel, bishop ^JS? Daniel 
of Winchester, was never interrupted ; and the epistolary corres- "bishop of 
pondence of those two prelates is highly interesting. From Eng- 
land Boniface was constantly supplied with fellow-labourers, in 
whom he found consolation under the difficulties by which he was 
surrounded. His mission was obstructed by the scandalous lives of 
the ecclesiastics under his government, and he was often involved 
in doubts how he should regulate his own conduct towards them. 
If he avoided all communication with them, he might offend the 
court of France, upon whose protection he was obliged to rely. 
If he preserved an intercourse with them, he was fearful of incur- 
ring guilt. He laid his doubts before his ancient friend the Bishop 
of Winchester, who advised him to endure with' patience those evils 
which he could not amend, not to make a schism in the Church 
under the hope of purifying it, yet, notwithstanding, to exercise 
ecclesiastical discipline against notorious offenders. 

The assiduity of Boniface was rewarded by an advancement Boniface 
to the archiepiscopal see of Mentz, a.d. 723. To that dignity archbishop 
he was raised by Gregory III., by whose authority, and under of Mentz - 
the protection of Carloman and Pepin, the sons of Charles Mar- 
tel, he founded in Grermany the bishoprics of Wurtzburg, Bura- v. 
burg, Erfurth, and Aichstadt. The see of Wurtzburg was filled 
by Burehard, an Englishman, who laboured for ten years with 
unceasing assiduity, and having exhausted his strength resigned 
his bishopric. 

When Boniface was far advanced in life, he once more visited Visits Rome. 
Rome, and after some stay there induced several of his country- 
men, who resided in that celebrated city, to join him in his Ger- 
man mission, a.d. 738. Beturning into Bavaria by the desire of 
Duke Odilo, he established in that country three new bishoprics, 
Saltzburg, Freisingen, and Batisbon. 

At last he settled at Mentz, but his activity was not diminished, Settles at 
and his connection with England was constantly preserved. He 
often wrote for books, especially for the works of Bede, whom he 
styled " The Lamp of the Church." He addressed a circular letter 
to the bishops and people of England, entreating their prayers for 
the success of his missions. Having laboured throughout a long 
life, he was resolved to labour even to its close. Quitting his Quits Ms 
archiepiscopal dignity, to which he appointed Lullus, an English- axchoishop- 
man, he determined to end his life at the spot on which he had 



164 CHBISTIA^ CHUECH — SEVENTH AIS'D EiaHTH CENTUBIES. 

a.d. 780. begun his missionary undertakings. He returned to Friesland by 

Returns to the Bhine ; and there, with the assistance of Eoban, the second 

Fnesiand. bi s h p f Utrecht, he brought numerous pagans to the profession 

of Christianity. He had appointed a day to confirm those whom 

he had previously baptized ; and, in expectation of their attendance, 

he had encamped with his followers on the banks of the Bordne, 

a river which was then the boundary between East and West 

Friesland. On the appointed day he beheld not the new converts 

whom he expected, but a troop of fierce pagans armed with shields 

and lances. His servants prepared for resistance, but Boniface 

repressed then ardour, and prepared his companions, as he himself 

Murdered by was prepared, for martyrdom. The pagans attacked them with 

ie pagans. f m j^ an( ^ s i ew jfa e whole company, fifty-two in number, besides 

Boniface himself. The Christian Germans resented his death by 

an attack upon the murderers, and the memory of Boniface is still 

reverently preserved by the honourable appellation of the Apostle 

of the Germans. 

Boniface was not the only missionary who attempted to deliver 
the nations of Germany from the bondage of pagan superstition. 
Many others signalized their zeal in the same pious undertaking. 
Corbinian. Corbinian, a French Benedictine monk, after having laboured with 
great diligence in planting the gospel in Bavaria and other coun- 
Firmin. tries, became Bishop of Freisingen. Firmin, a native of Gaul, 
preached the gospel under various kinds of suffering and opposition 
in Alsatia and Helvetia. The missionaries of this century would 
fill a numerous catalogue, but as they are of no great reputation, 
they may be passed over in silence. 
Cnarie- But idolatry experienced the attacks of a more formidable ad- 

jSsfrms 11118 versary than any Christian priest, in the person of Charlemagne, 
against the At the conclusion of this century, that Emperor turned his arms 
against the German Saxons, not only for the purpose of chastising 
their rebellious spirit, but of abolishing their idolatrous worship. 
He expected that their conversion to Christianity would soften 
their ferocity. This project, however wise in theory, was difficult 
in practice ; his first attempt to convert the vanquished Saxons 
was defeated, for he made use of bishops and monks whose exhor- 
tations were vain. More forcible means were afterwards used, and 
that warlike people, allured by promises of favour, or awed by 
threats of punishment, suffered themselves to be baptized by mis- 
sionaries expressly sent by the Emperor. Widekind and Albion, 
two of the most valiant among the Saxon chiefs, attempted to 
extirpate the profession of Christianity by the same violent methods 
through which it had been planted ; but the courage and wisdom 
of Charlemagne ultimately engaged those two warriors to make a 
public and solemn confession of their Christian faith, and to pro- 
mise an adherence to it during the remainder of their days. 
Bishops were appointed, and monasteries and schools were founded, 



BEMABKS. 165 

in order to preserve the knowledge and continue the propagation A.D. 780. 
of Christianity. 

Such is a general outline of the state of the Western Church in 
the seventh and eighth centuries. To enter minutely into the 
history of the Eastern Church, would involve a detailed account 
of the Mohammedan and Byzantine histories, which we cannot in 
this work attempt, 1 or would anticipate unnecessarily and uselessly 
the biographical notices of ecclesiastical writers, and the narrative 
of the controversies and hersies which, according to our ordinary 
plan, we have reserved for succeeding chapters. 

It mav, however, at least be remarked that the civil commotions General 
which raged in the Byzantine Empire — the controversies on images 
and image-worship which embroiled the Eastern Church — and the 
irruptions of the Saracens, rendered easy by these combined evils, 
were highly detrimental both to Church and State. The invasion 
of the Turks, by which the Saracens were driven into Spain, 
exposed the Church to a twofold source of persecution ; while, as 
the borders of the Church were pressed forward into Germany, 
those tribes who still retained their ancient superstitions treated 
the converts to Christianity with cruelty and scorn. Great injury 
was thus inflicted on the Christian cause, many weak disciples 
purchased peace and comfort by apostacy, while others were 
reduced through poverty and tyranny into a state of supine 
ignorance or formal ritualism. The unsettled condition, too, of 
almost all Europe so excited the minds of men that they were 
unable to reason calmly or feel rightly upon the important topics 
which distinguish "the kingdoms of this world" from the pure 
spiritual kingdom of the Most High. It may be doubted, too, 
how far Charlemagne's imitation of the Turks and Saracens in 
propagating religious opinion by the sword was ultimately bene- 
ficial to that cause he seemed to support, and it can never be . 
forgotten that while he made them nominally subject to Christ, he 
made them really subjects of his own power. 

1 See Hist. Ottoman Empire, by Col. Procter, &c. 



( 166 ) 



CHAPTEK IX. 

ECCLESIASTICAL WEITERS OF THE SEVENTH AND EIGHTH 

CENTURIES. 



SEVENTH CENTURY. 

Greek Writers. 

sophronius. 

Antiochus. 

Maximus. 

Latin Writers. 
Isidore of Seville. 
Aldhelm. 
Theodore. 
Julian Pomerius. 
Crisconius. 



EIGHTH CENTURY. 

Greek Writers. 

Germanus. 

Cosmas. 

Johannes Dajmascenus. 

Syncellus. 

Theophanes. 

Latin Writers. 

Bede. 

Alcuin. 

Johannes Erigena. 

Paulinus. 



remarks. 



a.d. 637. The seventh century is remarkably barren of writers, and several 
General circumstances contributed to the declension of learning. Firstly, 
may be reckoned the irruption of the Saracens ; secondly, the pre- 
valence of the Monothefite heresy ; and thirdly, the increasing 
corruptions of the Romish Church. The eighth century is of the 
same complexion, and we shall find few writers distinguished either 
for erudition or genius. 1 The Eastern Church was distracted by 
the image controversy, and among the Westerns, Iconoduli de- 
stroyed or suppressed all writings which opposed their supersti- 
tions. From this catalogue of obscure authors, we will notice 
the most remarkable. 

SOPHRONIUS. 
died circiter a.d. 637. 

A native of Damascus, who first applied himself to the study 
of philosophy, then became a monk, and was finally raised to 
the patriarchate of Jerusalem. He was chiefly remarkable for 
the controversies which he carried on against the Monothelites. 
When Jerusalem was taken by the Khalif Omar, a.d. 637, So- 
phronius, by the terms of capitulation, was allowed the free 
exercise of his religion, but he died shortly after that calamitous 
event. 

Dupin, torn. i. p. 261 ; Cave, 'Hist. Lit.' torn. i. p. 579. 

1 The seventh century is styled Speculum Monotheliticum ; the eighth century 
Saxulum Eiconoclasticum. 



ANTIOCHTJS — ISYCHITJS — MAXIAEUS, ETC. 167 

ANTIOCHUS. 

A monk of Palestine, who belonged to the celebrated monastery a.d. 740. 
of St. Saba. He was of a very superstitious disposition, and com- 
posed a pandect of the Holy Scriptures, or a summary of Christian 
doctrine, contained in one hundred and thirty homilies. This is 
his only work extant, except a ' Life of St. Euphrosyne,' a member 
of the monastery of St. Saba. 

Cave, 'Hist. Lit.' torn. i. p. 576. 

ISYCHITJS, OE HESYCHIUS, 

was bishop of Jerusalem. He wrote a commentary on several 
books of Scripture, and some homilies which are still extant, be- 
sides an ecclesiastical history which is lost. 
Cave, ' Hist. Lit.' torn. i. p. 572. 

MAXIMUS, 

a.d. 580-662, 

holds the first rank among the Greeks of the seventh century. 
He was born at Constantinople, and held a confidential situation 
in the court of the Emperor Heraclius. When that prince was 
seduced by the Monothehte heresy, Maximus indignantly left the 
court, and retired into a monastery near Constantinople. His 
literary labours were almost entirely devoted to the Monothelite 
controversy, with the exception of some illustrations of the Holy 
Scriptures. His style, on account of its involutions, is obscure, 
and, moreover, tumid. 

Cave. ' Hist. Lit.' torn. i. p. 586. 

GERMAXUS, 

FL. A.D. 715-740, 

was a bishop of Constantinople, who obtained notoriety for his 
violent zeal in favour of image-worship. For his pertinacity in 
opposing the edicts of the Emperor Leo, he was removed from his 
bishopric, but ended his life in retirement and peace. 
Cave, ' Hist. Lit.' torn. i. p. 621. 

COSMAS 

acquired the appellation of Hagiopolites, on account of his pro- 
ficiency in polite literature. Having been captured by the Sara- 
cens, he was carried to Damascus, and had the honour to be 
preceptor of that consummate master of the peripatetic philosophy, 
whom we are next about to notice. 



"Works. 



168 ECCLESIASTICAL WEITERS — SEVENTH AND EIGHTH CENT. 
JOHAIS^TES DAMASCEMJS. 

DIED A.D. 750. 

a.d. 750. This eminent writer, who was called Damascenes from the place 
of his birth, and Chrysorrhoas from his extraordinary eloquence, 
was also known by the appellation of Mansus, that being his 
patronymic. 1 His father held a station in the Saracenic court, 
to which he himself succeeded. Having with some difficulty ob- 
tained from the khalif an embassy to Jerusalem, his preceptor 
Cosmas was the companion of his journey. At Jerusalem he was 
advanced to the order of priesthood, and soon after he retired 
to the monastery of St. Saba, where he passed the remainder 
of his days. 

His writings are numerous, and illustrate the leading doctrines 
of Christianity, but he was tinctured with the superstition of his 
age, and was a warm advocate for image- worship. 2 His works 
have been collected in two volumes folio ; the best edition is that 
of Paris, 1712. 

Bayle, c Diet.' torn. ii. p. 950 ; Spanheim, ' Hist. Christ.' ssec. 
vih. and i Hist. Imag. Bestit.' sec. 2. num. 13 ; Cave, ' Hist. Lit.' 
torn. i. p. 624. 

SYNCELLUS AND THEOPHASTES 

were two writers on Byzantine history. The 'Chronicon' of 
Syncellus was in a great measure borrowed without acknowledg- 
ment from the work of Eusebius. That of Theophanes in its style 
is rude, and in its matter replete with contradictions. 
Cave, ' Hist. Lit/ torn. i. p. 641. 

ISIDORE OF SEVILLE. 
a.d. 570-636. 

The Latin writers of the seventh and eighth centuries were of 
a higher order than the Greeks. Isidore governed the Church of 
Seville for forty years. He was born in the sixth century, but 
flourished at the beginning of the seventh. He was a voluminous 
writer, but perhaps the most useful part of his works is his { Col- 
lection of Sentences' out of Gregory. The ' Mosarabic Liturgy,' 
which became the text book of Spanish worship, was principally 
from his hand. 

1 Tod Mo>v<roC», Mansuris filius. Thus lie is named in the Acts of the Nicene 
Council, in which he bore a distinguished part, and by Suidas. Spanheim, Hist. 
Christ, sac. viii. 

2 Baronius, a favourable witness, confesses of him, In multisejus scriptis fidern 
vacillare, et compluribus ipsum scatere mendaciis. Cave, Hist. Lit. torn. i. p. 624. 



THEODORE — JULIAN POMEEITJS — CRISCOtfltTS. 169 

ALDHELM, 

DIED A.D. 709, 

was of English birth, and of regal descent, but received his early A.D. 690. 
education in France and Italy. Eeturning to his native country, 
he embraced the monastic life, and became abbot of Malmesbury. 
Having passed more than thirty years in this seclusion, he was 
promoted to the bishopric of Sherborn. In the Paschal contro- 
versy which so long divided the British and Saxon churches, he 
sustained a distinguished part. According to Camden, he was the 
first Englishman who wrote in Latin, and according to the testi- 
mony of Bede, 1 his erudition was various. His book on the 
1 Paschal Controversy' is lost, but several poems remain, * Con- 
cerning the Christian Life,' which exhibit no striking marks of 
genius. 

Cave. 'Hist.' Lit.' torn. i. p. 595; Collier, < Eccl. Hist.' vol. i. 
p. 121. 

THEODORE 

was the seventh archbishop of Canterbury. The biography of this 
prelate will be found in our chapter on the ' History of the Anglo- 
Saxon Church,' Besides his famous ' Penitentiale,' there are extant 
of his writings, 1. ' Capitula Ecclesiastica,' 120. 2. i Epistola 
Theodori ad JEthelredum Merciorum Eegem de amicitia inter se 
et Wilfridum Episcopum Eboracensem quam injuste deponi cura- 
verat Theodoras redintegrata.' ' Apud' Gruil. Malmsbur. ' de Grest. 
Pontif.' lib. iii. fol. 151. < et Concil.' torn. vi. p. 1383. 
Cave, 'Hist. Lit.' torn. i. p. 592. 

JULIAN POMERIUS, 

a native of Toledo, who was ultimately elevated to its archbishopric. 
Such of his writings as are still extant, are chiefly in confutation 
of the Jews, and several of his tracts both in prose and verse are 
lost. Cave, ' Hist. Lit.' torn. i. p. 596. 

CRISCONIUS, 

FL. A.D. 690, 

was an African bishop, but of what city does not appear. He was 
the author of two books on Ecclesiastical Law, the one being an 
abridgment and the other a concordance of the Canons. He also 
wrote a poem on the wars and victories of Patricius over the Sara- 
cens, which is lost. Cave, ' Hist. Lit.' torn. i. p. 600. 

m 1 Vir undecunque doctissimus ; nam est sermone nitidus, et scripturaram tarn 
liberalium quam ecclesiasticarum erat eruditione mirandus. Bede, Eccl. Hist. 
lib. v. c. ]9. 



170 ECCLESIASTICAL WEITEES — SEVENTH JlN t D EIGHTH CES7T. 

BEDE. 
a.d. 672-735. 

a.d. 672. The Venerable Bede, as he is universally and justly styled. 1 was 

Youth. born in the neighbourhood of Durham, in a village now called 

Farrow, near the mouth of the Tyne. Concerning his parents, 
biography is silent, but it is probable that they were poor. It is 
however certain, that he was deprived of them in his infancy, and 
that he was placed by his kindred in the monastery of Wearmouth. 
His youthful days were passed hi that retirement, until he became 
capable of professing the discipline in which he had been educated : 
he was then removed to the neighbouring monastery of Jerrow. 
In those two religious houses, situated scarcely five miles from 
each other, Bede passed and ended his days. 

Ordination. I n the nineteenth year of his age, he was ordained a deacon, and 
in his thirtieth year was admitted to the order of priesthood. We 
are not informed who the instructors of Bede were, but some notion 
may be formed of the ability of the teachers in the Benedictine 
monasteries from the noble libraries with which they were furnished. 
So great was the progress of Bede both in sacred and profane 
learning, that his fame had spread to the Continent, and Sergius I., 
at that time Roman pontiff, invited him to the metropolis of the 
Western Church, to assist in the settlement of some ecclesiastical 
disputes, then warmly agitated ; an offer which he declined. 

Course of life. The course of his life and studies is thus described by himself. 
" From the time of my receiving the order of priesthood to my 
fifty -ninth year, I have employed myself in briefly noting from the 
works of the venerable fathers, those things on the Holy Scriptures 
which are adapted to the necessities of me and mine, and in adding 
something to the form of their sense and interpretation." 

Death. ^ monastic life, above any other, must be barren of events, and 

the chief celebrity of Bede arose from his lectures. His death is 
described in the following manner by his pupil Cuthbert. " He 
was attacked with a severe infirmity of frequent short breathing, 
yet without pain, about two weeks before Easter day, and so he 
continued joyful, employed in returning daily, or rather hourly, 
thanks to (rod, till the day of Ascension. He gave lessons to us 
his disciples every day, and during the remainder of it was 
employed in singing psalms. The nights he passed almost without 
sleep, yet rejoicing and giving thanks, unless when a little slumber 
intervened. When he waked, he resumed his accustomed devotions, 

1 The legendary story of the origin of the title informs us that one of his scholars 
willing to compose an epitaph on his master, wrote 

Hac sunt in fossa Bedas ossa. 

Being unable to discover any proper epithet, in his perplexity he fell asleep, and when 
he awoke he found the verse filled up as below, 

Hac sunt in fossa Bedse Veaerabilis ossa. 



BEDE. 171 

and with expanded hands ceased not to utter thanksgivings. He a.d. 735, 
recited the passage of St. Paul, ' It is a fearful thing to fall into 
the hands of the living God,' admonishing us to awake from the 
sleep of the mind. He sang the Antiphonse according to our 
custom and his own, of which one is ' King of glory, Lord of 
virtues, leave us not orphans, but send the promise of the Father, 
the Spirit of Truth, upon us. Alleluiah.' When he came to the 
words ' Spirit of Truth,' he burst into tears, and wept much, and 
we wept with him." After mentioning that Bede was even then 
occupied in translating St. John's Gospel into Saxon, his pupil 
adds, " When he came to the third festival before the Ascension 
day, his breathing began to be very strongly affected, and his feet 
to swell. All that day he dictated cheerfully, and sometimes said, 
' Make haste, I know not how long I may contain. My Maker 
may call me away very soon.' He passed that whole night in 
watching and devotion, and in the morning commanded us to 
write diligently what we had begun. This being done, we walked 
till the third hour with the relics of the saints, as the custom of 
the day required. One of us was with him who said, ' There is 
yet, beloved master, one chapter wanting, will it not be unpleasant 
to you to be asked any more questions ? ' He answered, ' Not at 
all ; take your pen, prepare it, and write with speed !' He did so. 
At the ninth hour, he said to me, ' I have some valuables in my 
little chest ; but run quickly and bring the presbyters of the 
monastery to me, that I may distribute my small presents.' He 
addressed each, and exhorted them to attend to their masses and 
prayers. They wept when he told them that they would see him 
no more, but he said that it was time for him to return to the 
Being: who had formed him out of nothing. He conversed in this 
manner cheerfully till the evening, when the boy said, 'Dear 
master, one sentence still is wanting.' ' Write it quickly,' exclaimed 
Bede. When it was finished, he said, ' Take my head in your 
hands, for I shall delight to sit opposite the holy place where I 
have been accustomed to pray, and where I can invoke my Father. 5 
When he was placed on the pavement, he repeated the ' Gloria 
Patri,' and expired in the effort." 1 

The theological works to which Bede alludes in the passage works, 
above quoted, consist of 'Commentaries on the Holy Scripture,' 
' Homilies,' ' Lives of Saints,' and ' Ecclesiastical History.' 
Those comprise three-fourths of all his writings. 2 He has com- 
mented on every- book of the Scriptures from Genesis to the 
Revelations, and he has introduced on each, as much learning and 
knowledge as any individual could at that time accumulate by the 
most patient research. His 'Treatise on the Trinity' is a com- 
mentary on the tract of Boethius on that subject. His ' Medita- 

1 Smith's Bede, p. 793. 2 Six folio volumes out of eight. 



172 ECCLESIASTICAL WEITEBS — SEVENTH A1ST) EIGHTH CE^T. 

a.d. 804. tions on the last words of our Saviour' display great devotional 
sensibility. His ' Homilies ' must, in the dearth of knowledge 
which then prevailed, have been abundantly useful. His l Lives ' 
of religious persons are disfigured with absurd legends, but as they 
were the object of general admiration and belief in his day, his 
credulity was no more than the credulity belonging to the age. 

Of all his works, the most valuable is the ' Ecclesiastical History 
of the Nation of the Angles,' which, while it treats professedly of 
the establishment of Christianity in the different Saxon king- 
doms, contains almost all that we know of the history of their 
earlier princes. His industry and abilities in this department may 
be best estimated if we recollect that all notice of public transac- 
tions ceased with him. The greatest objection to his 'History' 
arises from its marvels. 

style. The style of Bede is plain and unaffected, seldom eloquent, and 

often homely, but always clear and precise. His extent of reading is 
undisputed ; he was one of the greatest ecclesiastics of his times, 
and while his learning qualified him for the highest stations in the 
Church, his humility kept him in one of the lowest. Instead of 
being, as he might have been, a munificent patron of learned men, 
he chose the laborious life of a monk, an author, and a teacher, in 
one of the most remote parts of his native island. 

Cave, ' Hist. Lit.' torn. i. pp. 616-618 ; < Life of Bede,' prefixed 
to his works ; Turner, ' Hist, of the Anglo-Saxons,' book ix. ch. 
vi. ; Muratori, ' Antiq. Italic. Med. iEvi,' torn. iii. p. 325. 

ALCUES", OR ALBINUS, 

DIED A.D. 804, 

was a native of York or its neighbourhood, although some writers 
have fixed his birth in the vicinity of London. 1 He is said to have 
been one of the disciples of Bede. By Egbert, archbishop of York, 
he was appointed master of the school in that archiepiscopal city. 
His reputation attracted crowds of students from Gaul and Germany 
to his lectures, and recommended him to the notice of the Emperor 
Charlemagne. He accepted the invitation of that prince to reside 
in his court, 2 diffused a taste for learning throughout all the 
provinces of the Empire, and numbered the most distinguished 
prelates and statesmen among his scholars. When in his old age 
he retired from the splendour and intrigues of the imperial court, 
many followed him to his retreat at Tours, where he continued his 
favourite occupation of teaching till his death. His works are 

1 He himself says that he was bora and educated at York. Malmsb. De Gest. p. 24. 

2 He acquired great riches by the favour of Charlemagne. He was indeed reproached 
on that account, and he does not deny the fact, but affirms that wealth had not 
corrupted his mind. " It is one thing to possess the world ; it is another to be pos- 
sessed by it." Alb. Ep. p. 927. 



JOHANNES EEIGEKA. 173 

numerous ; ! they consist principally of poems, elementary introduc- a.d. 830. 
tions to the different sciences, treatises on a variety of theological 
subjects, and Epistles to the most celebrated characters of his age. 
His ' Commentary on the Book of Proverbs and the Epistles of St. 
Paul,' ' A Treatise on Orthography, and on Music,' are lost. 

'Hist. Lit. de la France,' torn. iv. p. 295; Cave, 'Hist. Lit.' 
torn. i. pp. 637-639 ; Spanheim, ' Hist. Christ.' saec. viii. sec. 10. 

JOHANNES ERIGENA 

was another reputed disciple of Bede, distinguished for the acuteness 
of his intellect as well as for the extent of his learning. He was 
by birth an Irishman, but was well skilled in Grecian literature, 
for he translated from that language a work of Dionysius, and the 
'Scholia' of Maximus on Gregory Xazianzen. He dedicated the 
latter work to Charlemagne, at whose command he had undertaken 
it. At the request of his ecclesiastical superiors, he wrote against 
Godeschalcus on Predestination, but his principal work was a 
treatise, ' De Divisione Naturae,' 2 a dialogue which is distinguished 
for its Aristotelian acuteness and extensive information. In a 
subsequent age it was condemned, and Pope Honorius III. issued 
a bull declaring that it " abounded with worms of heretical 
depravity." Excommunication was denounced against all who 
should retain in their possession a copy of so dangerous a work. 3 

Erigena enjoyed a great share of royal favour. King Charles 
the Bald, one day, when they were feasting opposite to each other, 
took occasion to give him a gentle rebuke for some irregularity by 
asking him, "Quid distat inter Sotum et Scotum?" 4 The 
philosopher replied with ready wit, "Mensa tantum." The 
Emperor had the good sense and good nature to smile at the 
repartee. 

After the death of Charles, Alfred invited Erigena to England, 
and rewarded his talents by settling him at Malmesbury. His 
life ended unfortunately, for it is said that he was stabbed by the 
boys whom he taught. This story is related also of Erigena, 
abbot of Ethelingey, but the probable solution of the chfhculty is, 
that Johannes Erigena had been removed from Malmesbury to 
Ethelingey. A difficulty less capable of explanation is, how one 
and the same Erigena could have been the disciple of Bede and 
the literary companion of Alfred, or a contemporary of Charles the 
Bald. These anachronisms cannot be settled. 

Cave, ' Hist Lit.' torn. ii. p. 45 ; Turner, 'Hist, of the Anglo- 
Saxons,' book ix. ch. vi. 

1 Thev were published by Du Cbesne at Paris, in 1617. 

2 Published by Thomas Gale, Oxford, 1681, 

3 The bull is" contained at length in Fabric. Bib. Med. lib. ix. 402. It is dated 
10 Kal. Feb. 1225. 4 Matt. West. 333. 



174 ECCLESIASTICAL WBITEES— SEVENTH AND EIGHTH CENT. 

PAULINUS, 

a.d. 800, an eminent grammarian, vras a native of Germany, and rewarded 
by the patronage of Charlemagne, who advanced him to the see of 
Aquileia, in which station he proved a formidable opponent of the 
Felicians. Besides a ' Treatise on the Trinity,' and some con- 
troversial books against the Felicians. he wrote some sacred poems. 
Spanheim, 'Hist. Christ.' ssec. viii. sec. 10; Cave, 'Hist, Lit.' 
torn. i. p. 696 ; 'Art. Sanctor.' torn. i. 

OTHER WRITERS OF THE SEVENTH AND EIGHTH CENTURIES. 

Fedegarius the historian claims the first place in the list of 
minor writers. Boniface, the apostle of Germany, of whom we 
have already spoken, wrote a treatise entitled ' De imitate Fidei,' 
which is lost, bnt his ' Epistles ' are still extant. Eginhard is 
known for his ' Life of Charlemagne.' Charlemagne himself is 
placed in the catalogne of authors. 1 The laws which are known 
by the title of ' Capitularia,' a tract concerning ' Images,' with 
several ' Epistles,' are attributed to him, though it is highly 
probable that they were the production of some of those illustrious 
characters whom he so munificently patronized. 

1 Yet, according to his biographer, this great prince was unable to write. Tentabat 
et scribere : tabulasq et codicillos ad hoe in lectulo sub cervicalibus circurnferri solebat : 
ut cum vacuum tempus esset manum erhgianclis Uteris assuefaceret. Sed parum 
prospere successit labor praepostems ac sero inchoatus. Eginhard, Vit. Carlom. 



( 175 ) 



CHAPTEE X. 

HERESIES OF THE SEVENTH AXD EIGHTH CENTURIES, 



Seventh Century. 

monothelites. 
Maroxites. 



Eighth Century. 

Feliciaxs. 

Iconoclasts. 

iconodum. 



These two centuries are more remarkable for the progress of A,:0, "^"* 
ancient heresies, than for the establishment of new. The opinions f^|i 
propagated by Alius were extended in Italy, and the Lombards 
openly espoused his doctrines, in preference to the Nicene. In 
Britain the Pelagians continued to excite the warmest dissensions. 1 
The Xestorians and Monophysites acquired new vigour under the 
empire of the Saracens, from whom they not only received pro- 
tection but encouragement. 2 A modification of the ^Xanichgean 
doctrine, the followers of which were known by the appellation of 
Paulicians, had its rise in this century ; but ecclesiastical historians 
have reserved a more particular account of that sect until the ninth 
century, during which they acquired sufficient strength to support 
a war with the Greeks. But one sect arose in the seventh century 
whose history from its connection with other transactions merits 
detail. 

THE MOXOTHELITES. 

This Heresy was derived from the Eutychian doctrine, and it Origin of the 
arose under the reign of the Emperor Heraclius. It had its rise heresy ' 
from an ill-digested and untimely project of that Emperor, to re- 
store the Nestorians to the communion of the Greek Church. In 
pursuance of this project on his return from the Persian war, he 
held two conferences, the one a.d. 622, with a certain person named 
Paul, a man of great credit and authority among the Armenian 
Monophysites, and the other a.d. 629, with Athanasius. the Catho- 
lic bishop of Hierapolis. These conferences had for their object 
the peace and concord of the Church. Both Paul and Athanasius 
assured the Emperor that the Monophysites might be induced to 

1 Bede, Hist. lib. ii. c. 19. See also c. xx. 

2 The famous Testament of Mohammed was brought from the East in the sixth 
century by Pacificus Scaliger, a Capuchin monk. It was first published in Arabic 
and Latin, at Paris. This document is considered by the best writers, as the forgery 
of some Arabian monks, with a view to soften the rigour of the Mohammedan yoke". 
Renaudot is one of those who argue in favour of its genuineness. Hist. Patriarch, 
Alexandrin. p. 168. In this testamentary diploma, Slohammed promises and be- 
queaths to the Christians in his dominions the quiet and undisturbed enjoyment of 
their religion, and of their temporal advantages and possessions. Accordingly the 
Nestorian Christians enjoyed a considerable degree of favour and confidence under the 
successors of Mohammed."' Renaudot, Hist. Patriarch. Alexandrin. pp. 163-168. 



176 HEEESIES Or THE SEVENTH ABU EIGHTH CEXTUEIES. 



Edict of 
Heraclius. 



a.d. 639. receive the decrees of the Council of Chalcedon, and thereby to 
terminate their controversy with the Greeks, on condition that the 
latter would give their assent to the following proposition, viz., 
that in Jesus Christ there was, after the union of the two natures, 
but one will, and one operation. Heraclius communicated the 
proposal to Sergius, patriarch of Constantinople, a Syrian by birth, 
and a Monophysite by profession, and that prelate delivered his 
opinion that the doctrine of one will and one operation after the 
union of the two natures, might be adopted without departing from 
the decrees of the Chalcedonian Council. 

Flattering as was the first appearance of this project, it was 
soon changed. The Emperor published an edict in favour of the 
Monotheiite doctrine, and it was received if not with general ap- 
probation, yet without serious opposition. Some ecclesiastics re- 
fused obedience, but the patriarchs of Alexandria and Antioch 
received it without hesitation, and from the see of Jerusalem, at 
that time vacant, no opinion could be received. The consent of 
the Eomish pontiff was deemed unnecessary in an affair which 
belonged solely to the Eastern Church. Cyrus, who had been 
raised by Heraclius from the bishopric of Phasis to the patriarchate 
of Alexandria, assembled a Council a.d. 633, by the seventh canon 
of which the doctrine of Monothelitism 3 or one will, was solemnly 
confirmed. Hence Cyrus has been generally esteemed the founder 
of the sect. The decree of the Alexandrian Svnod, bringing 1 the 
doctrine of the Council of Chalcedon nearer to the Eutychian sys- 
tem, had the desired effect, and numbers of the Eutychians, who 
were dispersed throughout Egypt, Armenia, and other remote 
provinces, returned to the bosom of the Church. But in the 
Council of Alexandria there was one dissentient, who carried his 
opposition to the Monotheiite doctrine further than the limits of 
mere argument, and hostility in debate. Sophronius, 1 a monk of 
Palestine, had opposed the decree of the Alexandrian Synod with 
violence ; but his opposition was treated with contempt. In the 
succeeding year, however, he was elevated to the vacant patriarchate 
of Jerusalem ; and he soon exercised his authority by summoning 
a Council, and condemning the Monotheiite as a branch of the 
Eutychian system. Not satisfied with this formal condemnation, 
he endeavoured to gain Honorius, the Eomish pontiff, to his side, 
but his efforts were in vain. Sergius, who at that time filled the see 
of Constantinople, informed Honorius of the state of the question, 
and the pontiff determined in favour of the Monotheiite doctrine. 
In order to terminate, if possible, the commotions to which this 
division of opinion had given rise, Heraclius issued a.d. 639, an 
edict composed by Sergius, and entitled the ' Ecthesis,' or ' Expo- 
sition of the Faith/ in which all controversies upon the ; question 



Council at 
Alexandria. 



Author of the 
heresy. 



Ecthesis of 
Heraclius, 



1 See page 166. 



MONOTHELEFISM. 177 

whether in Christ there was a double operation, were prohibited, a.d. 650. 
though the doctrine of a unity of Will was inculcated. A con- 
siderable number of the Eastern bishops declared then assent to 
the ' Ecthesis,' and above all Pyrrhus, who succeeded Sergius in 
the see of Constantinople. A similar acceptation was obtained from 
the metropolis of the Eastern Church ; but at Koine the ' Ecthesis' J is co £- 
was differently received. John IY. assembled a Council a.d. 639, Rome. 
in which that exposition was condemned, 

Neither was the Monothelite system maintained in the Eastern Formulary of 
Church any longer than during the life of Heraclius. The Em- 
peror Constans published a new edict a.d. 648, under the name of 
the ' Type,' or ' Formulary,' suppressing the ' Ecthesis,' and en- 
joining silence on both the controverted points of one "Will and 
one Operation. This silence was not sufficient for either of the 
contending parties, for both were desirous of keeping alive the 
subject of contention. They excited Martin, bishop of Eome, to 
oppose the pacific edict, and that pontiff in a Council of one hundred Martin con- 
and five bishops, having condemned both the ' Ecthesis' and the Icthesisand 
' Type,' denounced the most tremendous anathemata on the Mono- tne Type. 
thelites and all their patrons, 1 a.d. 649. 

The Emperor Constans, offended at the haughty proceedings of Martin is im- 
Martin, ordered him to be seized, and carried as a prisoner to the orders the 
island of Xaxos, where he remained more than a year. 2 His im- coStans. 
prisonment was attended with much cruel treatment ; and similar 
punishment was inflicted on the opponents of the llonothelite 
doctrine. 3 Eugenius and Yitalianus, the succeeding bishops of 
Home, were more moderate and prudent than their unfortunate 
predecessor ; and the latter received Constans with the highest 
demonstrations of respect, a.d. 650. 

The flames of contention, though suppressed, were always in sixth Gen- 
danger of breaking forth anew ; and in order to extinguish them, era 0ILnc ' 
Constantino Pogonatus, the son of Constans, by the advice of 
Agatho, the Roman pontiff, convened the sixth General Council^ 
a.d. 680. It consisted of not less than two hundred and eighty- 
nine bishops, among whom were four legates to represent the 
Eoman pontiff, the patriarchs of Constantinople, Antioch, Alex- 
andria, and Jerusalem; and that "pope of another world," Theo- 
dore, archbishop of Canterbury. The place of meeting was in a 
spacious hall of the imperial palace called ' Trullus,' i.e. Cupola, 
from the form of the building. The president of the Council was 
Constantine himself. 

1 It was held in the Lateran, and was summoned by Martin in pursuance of the 
advice of Maxiinus, abbot of Chrysopolis, near Chalcedon. The labour employed to 
gain Maximus to the Monothelites was most extraordinary. Fleury, Eccl. Hist, book 
xxxiv. c 12. 2 Died 655. 

s Maximus was scourged, his tongue cut out, and his right hand cut off; the 
maimed abbot was then banished and imprisoned for life. His'banishment took place 
in 056, and his death in 662. 



178 HERESIES OF THE SETE1S T TH JlKD EIGHTH CENTURIES. 

a.d. 670. The Monothelite controversy was accurately investigated from 
Monotheiites its beginning ; the epistle of Sophronius to Sergius, the rescripts 
:on emne . o ^ jjoiiorms, the letters of Cyrus and Theodore were compared ; 
and a unanimous judgment was passed. 1. The Nicene Creed was 
defined to be the standard of orthodoxy. 2. The heresy of the 
Monotheiites and Pope Honorius were condemned, together with 
Sergius, Pyrrhus, Cyrus, and Macarius. 3. Those who opposed 
the decree of the sixth Council were anathematized. 
Their tenets. The ^^ or the f a l se hood, of the Monothelite tenets, bears no 
proportion to the fury with which they were assailed and defended ; 
and the contending parties mutually disclaimed the errors with 
which they charged each other. 1. The Monotheiites disclaimed 
all connection with the Eutychians and Monophysites ; but main- 
tained in opposition to these two sects, that in Christ there were 
two distinct natures which were so united, though without the least 
mixture or confusion, as to form by their union only One Person. 

2. They acknowledged that the soul of Christ was endued with 
such a will or faculty of volition, that it was retained even after 
its union with the Divine nature. For according to their system 
Christ was not only perfect Grod> but perfect man, whence it fol- 
lowed that his soul was endued with the faculty of volition. 

3. They denied that this faculty of volition in the soul of Christ 
was absolutely inactive, maintaining on the contrary that it co- 
operated with the Divine Will. 4. They therefore virtually at- 
tributed to Christ two Wills, both operative and active ; although 
they affirmed that in a certain sense he had but one Will and 
one Operation. 1 

The whole of the Monotheiites, however, did not explain these 
tenets in the same way : some believed that the human and Divine 
wills of Jesus Christ were, though distinct, yet harmonious, and 
therefore in that certain sense one; others thought that though 
these wills were really amalgamated by the personal union of the 
two distinct natures of the Saviour, they should yet be distinguished 
in thought from each other ; while the greater part considered that 
Christ's human will was only the instrument of the Divine will, 
both moved by its impulses, and moving it by the impressions it 
received, and hence that though virtually distinct they were really 
one ; a few others represented the doctrine as merely asserting 
that the oneness of will in Christ arose from his pious resignation 
in accordance with which he subjected his manhood to his Divine 
nature. 

THE MARONITES. 

Their name, These were in fact Monotheiites, who, after their doctrine had 
lived. been condemned by the Council at Constantinople, found a place of 

1 A copious account of the Monothelite heresy is contained in the works of Johannes 
Damascenus in a treatise on the two wills, and in his books on the Orthodox Faith. 



ICONOCLASTS AND ICONODULI. 179 

refuge among the Mardaites, or mountaineers of Libanus and An- a.d. 800, 
tilibanus. About the end of the seventh century they were known 
by the name of Maronites, from Maro, their first bishop. This 
sect retained the opinions of the Monothelites until the twelfth 
century, when abandoning and renouncing the doctrine of One 
"Will in Christ, they were re-admitted to the Communion of the 
Eomish Church. The most learned of the Maronites have indeed 
laboured to prove that their communion was never infected with 
the Monothelite heresy. 

THE FELICIANS. 

Felix, bishop of Urgella, was consulted by Elipand, archbishop Origin of the 
of Toledo, to decide in what sense Christ was G-od. The answer eiesy * 
of Felix was, that Christ, with respect to his Divine nature, was 
truly and properly the Son of G-od, begotten of the Father, and 
hence he was the true G-od, together with the Father and the 
Holy Spirit, in the unity of the G-odhead. But that with respect 
to his humanity, Christ was the Son of Grod by adoption, born of 
the Virgin by the will of the Father, and thus he was nominally 
G-od. Hence, according to the opponents of the Felicians, it fol- 
lowed that there was a two-fold Sonship in Christ, and that He 
must consist of two Persons. The opinion of Felix was considered 
by the orthodox as nothing more than a scion of the ISTestorian 
heresy. 

The doctrine of Felix was adopted by Elipand, who, being the its progress, 
primate of Spain, propagated it through the different provinces of 
that kingdom, while Felix himself contributed to spread it through- 
out Narbonne and other parts of G-aul. The Roman pontiff Adrian 
was a vigorous opponent of Felix, and the Bishop of Urgella was 
successively condemned by the Councils of Narbonne a.d. 788, 
Eatisbon a.d. 792, Frankfort-on-the-Maine a.d. 794, and Borne 
a.d. 799. He was at length obliged by the Council of Aix-la- 
Chapelle to retract his errors. His retractation was, however, merely 
nominal, for he died at Lyons, whither he had been banished by 
Charlemagne, in the firm belief of his doctrine. Elipand lived 
securely in Spain, and was never called before any Synod or Council. 
The disciples of Felix were sometimes known under the name of Adoptians. 
Adoptians. 1 

THE ICONOCLASTS AND ICONODULI. 

The controversy on image worship which terminated in a schism 
between the Greek and Latin Churches cannot be more commo- 
diously related than by classifying the party which incurred the 

1 The authors who have written concerning the Felicians are enumerated by Fabri- 
cius, Biblioth. Lat. Med. My. torn, ii, p. 482. 



180 ELEEESIES OF THE SEVENTH JlSD EIG-HTH CENTURIES. 

a.d. 730. condemnation of the Church of Eome with the heretics of the 

seventh century, although without assenting to that decision. 1 

Origin of the The beginning of this unhappy dispute has been placed in the 

srsy " reign of Phillipicus Bardanes, emperor of the Greeks. That prince, 

by the advice of John, the patriarch of Constantinople, ordered a 

Bardanes _ picture which represented the sixth General Council to be removed 

toltobeie- from its place in the church of Sta. Sophia. His dislike to the 

S^dftirdfof pi c ^ ure was occasioned by his hatred of the Council which had 

sta. Sophia, condemned the Monothelites, whose cause he espoused. Bardanes, 

satisfied with this exercise of power, sent an order to Borne for the 

removal of all similar pictures from the churches. So far, however, 

Constantine, was this order from producing'the desired effect, that Constantine, 

pontiff™* the Boman pontiff, published a formal protest against the imperial 

peria/emct 1 " ecu ^- ^ s disobedience to it was expressed in his actions as well 

as by his words. He commanded six pictures, representing the six 

General Councils, to be placed in the porch of the church of St. 

Peter ; and to render his contempt of the Emperor more public, he 

assembled a Council at Borne, in which Bardanes was condemned 

as an apostate from the true religion. Constantine at the com- 

Bardanes mencemeut of the dispute gained a decisive victory, for in the 

nieimpeiiai following year a revolution deprived Bardanes of the imperial 

throne, throne. 

Under the two Emperors who succeeded Bardanes the contro- 
versy appears to have been suppressed ; but when Leo the Isaurian 
Edict of Leo, assumed the purple, it broke out with redoubled fury. Leo, dis- 
gusted at the superstitious veneration shown by the Greeks to 
images, and feeling the reproach which the abuse had drawn on 
the Christian religion, determined to extirpate the evil if it were 
possible. For this purpose he issued an edict, prohibiting the 
adoration or worship of images, which some writers have misre- 
presented as an injunction to destroy them. For he expressly com- 
manded that they should be placed higher in the churches, in order 
that the adoration of them might be prevented, and he excepted 
from his edict those pictures or images which represented the cru- 
cifixion. 2 It was not till he found that such precautions would 
not prevent idolatrous worship that he condemned pictures and 
images by an absolute prohibition. 

The imperial edict occasioned the most violent tumults. A 
civil war commenced in the islands of the Archipelago : it soon 
spread over Asia, and ultimately reached Italy. The people 
were taught to believe that the Emperor was an apostate, and that 
they were therefore freed from their allegiance. Gregory II. was 

1 Spanheim has thus classified them. He has a separate treatise on Image worship, 
besides a chapter in his General Ecclesiastical History. It is contained in the second 
volume of his works, Miscellan. book vi. It was composed in answer to "Maiinbourg 
the Jesuit. 

- Xon hue spectat mea sententia ut ea prorsus deleantur, sed hoc ais, sublimiore 
loco eas collocandas esse. Spanheim, MisceL Sac. Antiq. lib. vi. Oper. torn. ii. 



THE ICONOCLASTS AND ICONODTJLI. 181 

the author and ringleader of these commotions in the West. Upon a.d. 780. 
the refusal of Leo to revoke his edict against images, the pontiff Leo is ana- 
declared him unworthy of the name and privileges of a Christian, ^ e G r a e go^ 
and thus excluded him from the communion of the Church. No n., a.d. 726. 
sooner was this sentence made public than the Romans and the Revolt of the 
inhabitants of other Italian provinces which were subject to the vmces! Pr0 ~ 
Grecian Empire threw off their allegiance and massacred the impe- 
rial dignitaries and officers. The temper of Leo was too warm and 
resolute to be subdued by this opposition. He vented his rage Council at 
against both images and their worshippers ; and having assembled £opie. antl " 
a Council at Constantinople, a.d. 730, he degraded Germanus, the 
patriarch of the imperial city, who was a patron of images, and 
placed Anastasius in the see. He commanded all images to be 
publicly burned, and he inflicted the most severe punishments on 
their worshippers. 

These rigorous measures divided the Christian Church into two Two factions, 
factions emulating each other in violence ; the one which main- 
tained that images should be worshipped was called IconoduU, or 
Iconolatri; the other, which maintained that such worship was 
impious, was called Iconomachce and Iconoclastce. 

Leo was succeeded in the empire by his son Constantine, a.d. 741, ^^^o 
to whom the image worshippers in derision gave the surname of 
Copronymus} He had no less zeal than his father against idolatry, 
and employed his power and influence in its extirpation, in opposi- 
tion to the Boman pontiffs. But his proceedings were character- 
ized by greater moderation than those of his father ; for knowing 
the respect which the Greeks entertained for the decisions of Coun- 
cils, he assembled at Constantinople a Council of the Eastern 
bishops, a.d. 754. By the Greeks this is considered as the seventh council at 
(Ecumenical Council ; by the Bomish Church it is not acknow- nopie. antl " 
ledged. There were present not less than three hundred and 
thirty-eight bishops, and it was more numerous than any of the 
(Ecumenical Councils, that of Chalcedon excepted. The two prin- 
cipal bishops, the Bishop or Exarch of Ephesus and the Bishop or idolatry is 
Metropolitan of Perga, presided in the assembly. Its decrees 
were, according to the custom of the Eastern Councils, in favour of 
the opinions espoused by the Emperor ; and an anathema was pro- 
nounced against all image worshippers, among whom Germanus 
was specially condemned. 2 Calumnies of the most improbable and 
contradictory nature were vented against Copronymus. He was 

1 Kexpo?, stercus. This name was given to Constantine from a story that he had 
defiled the sacred font at his baptism. 

2 The Council thus expresses its censure of idolatry : — "Jesus Christ hath delivered 
us from idolatry, and hath taught us to adore him in spirit and in truth. But the 
devil, not being able to endure the beauty of the Church, hath insensibly brought 
back idolatry under the appearance of Christianity, persuading men to worship the 
creature, and to take for God a work to which they give the name of Jesus Christ." 
Fleury, Eccl. Hist, xliii. 7. 



182 HERESIES OF THE SEVENTH AND EIGHTH CENTURIES. 



A.D. 794. 



Leo IV. suc- 
ceeds Copro- 
nymus. 



Irene poisons 
the Emperor. 



Second Ni- 
cene Council. 



Idolatry 
restored. 



A middle 
course 
adopted by 
some 
Churches. 



The four 
hooks of 
Charle- 
magne. 



accused of Manicheism, of Nestorianism, and of Arianism. The 
blind obstinacy of superstition was not vanquished, and the monks 
still continued to excite commotions among the people. Copro- 
nyinus, filled with a just indignation at their seditious practices, 
restrained them by new laws, and inflicted on some of them exem- 
plary punishment. 

After the death of Constantine a.d. 775, Leo IV. was declared 
Emperor, and he pursued the measures adopted by his father and 
grandfather for the extirpation of idolatry. His consort was Irene, 
a woman remarkable for wit and beauty, but of a most abandoned 
and profligate mind. Having poisoned her husband, a.d. 780, in 
order to escape the punishment due to her infidelity which he had 
discovered, she held the reins of government during the minority 
of her son Constantine, and the cause of idolatry was then once 
more triumphant. To establish her authority more firmly, she 
formed an alliance with Adrian, bishop of Rome, and the Boman 
pontiff summoned a Council at Nice in Bithynia, which is known 
by the name of the second Nicene Council. 1 

An eclipse of the sun immediately preceded it, which the Icono- 
clasts did not fail to represent as ominous. Its president was 
Tarasius, a creature of Irene, whom she had raised to the patri- 
archate of Constantinople ; and although the Council was assembled 
at Nice, that ambitious priest took precedence of the legates of 
Adrian. None of the Eastern patriarchs were present, but there 
were two monks of Palestine, John and Thomas, who assumed the 
names of two of those patriarchs. There are said to have been at 
least three hundred and fifty bishops present, but none of the 
Eastern Church, and none of those of the West who had signalized 
themselves by opposition to idolatry. In this assembly the impe- 
rial laws concerning idolatry were abrogated ; the decrees of the 
Council of Constantinople were reversed ; the worship of images 
and of the cross was restored ; and severe punishments were de- 
nounced against those who maintained that God was the only 
object of religious veneration. 

In the violent contests between the Iconoduli and the Icono- 
machae, most of the Latins, as well as the Britons, Germans, and 
Gauls, seemed to take a middle course. They were of opinion that 
images might be lawfully retained in the churches for the purpose 
of exciting devotion, but they regarded all image worship as highly 
injurious to religion and offensive to the Supreme Being. Such 
was the opinion of Charlemagne, who took a decisive part in this 
controversy. By the advice of his bishops, he caused some eminent 
theologian 2 to compose four books concerning images, which he sent 

1 It is called by Spanheim Conciliabulum Nicenum. 

2 Alcuin, the preceptor of Charlemagne, has been supposed to have had a consider- 
able share in the composition of these four books, although he was at this time in 
England. The books of Charlemagne were published at Hanover in 1731, with a 
preface by August Heuman. 



CONTROVERSIES ON THE EUCHARIST. 183 

to Adrian, 1 with a view of engaging him to withdraw his approbation a.d. 794. 
from the second Nieene Council. In this performance the argu- 
ments for idolatry were accurately examined and ably refuted. 
Adrian, however, was resolved not to leave the cause undefended, 
and he composed an answer to the four books of Charlemagne. 2 

The Emperor at length adopted a better way of settling the Council at 
dispute than that of prolonging a controversy with the pontiff. Frankfort - 
A Synod was called by Charlemagne at Frankfort, a.d. 794, for the 
double purpose of settling the Adoptian or Felician controversy and 
of examining the question of image worship. Not less than three 
hundred bishops were present, collected from France, Spain, Italy, 
Germany, and Britain, to whom must be added the legates of 
Adrian. In this Synod the decrees of the second Mcene Council cenTcountii 
were condemned, and everv kind of adoration of images was de- condemned. 
clared to be superstitious and impious. The opinions contained in 
the four books of Charlemagne were confirmed. 

From the decrees of this Council it may be concluded, that the T f h t ^ d p c ^ es n 
Western Churches sometimes dissented from the Roman pontiff, pontiff not 
The Caroline Books not only condemned all image worship, but Swell. 7 
reprehended the flattering addresses of the Grecian bishops to 
Adrian. Though they allowed the primacy of the Church of 
St. Peter, yet they denied that implicit faith was to be yielded to 
the decrees of the Eomish pontiffs. And it does not appear that 
Adrian required an unqualified submission; for, notwithstanding 
the Council of Frankfort, there was no interruption of harmony 
between the pope 3 and the Emperor. 

CONTROVERSY CONCERNING THE EUCHARIST. 

Some writers date the origin of this great question in the eighth Date of the 
century, and assert that it had a connection with the controversy 
on image worship. It was disputed whether the symbols used in 
the Eucharist were only a representation and figure of the body 
and blood of Christ, or whether they underwent a supernatural 
change into his real body and blood. The Iconomachae in the 
Council of Constantinople convened by Copronymus, having recited 
the words of the Nicene Council, that the bread consecrated in the 
Eucharist is the true image or type of Christ, added this explana- 
tion — That the Eucharistical bread, by the consecration of the 
priest, becomes holy, 4 but without any transubstantiation or de- 
struction of its former substance. 

The Iconoduli asserted a contrary opinion, that the bread and 
wine are not the image or type of the body and blood of Christ, 

1 They were presented to Adrian by Engilbert, the ambassador of Charlemagne. 

2 Dupin, Eccl. Hist. Cent. viii. His answer to Charlemagne was tame and insipid. 
8 Adrian died in 795, the year after the Council of Frankfort. 

4 'E&> tou xoiyou irgo; to cLyfav. 



Gentilli. 



184 HEEESIES OP THE SEVENTH AND EIGHTH CENTUEIES. 

a.d. 791. but actually his body and blood. They become so by a change of 
substance/ or transubstantiation/ 

CONTROVERSY CONCERNING THE DERIVATION OF THE 

HOLY GHOST. 

While the controversy concerning images was at its height, a 
new contest arose between the Latins and Greeks about the proces- 
sion of the Holy Ghost. The Latins affirmed that the Divine 
Spirit proceeded both from the Father and the Son ; the Greeks 
denied this, and affirmed that he proceeded from the Father only. 

Synodof The question was agitated in the Council of Gentilli, a.d. 767, near 
Paris, called by Pepin at the request of Copronymus. The Latins 
adduced in favour of their opinion the creed of Constantinople, but 
the Greeks accused the Latins of having corrupted this creed by 
an interpolation. The Synod at Gentilli was principally called on 
the question of image worship, and therefore this was a subordi- 

Synodat nate dispute. Another Synod at Frejus, a.d. 791, convened for the 
purpose of suppressing the Adoptian heresy, took cognizance of 
this dispute on the procession of the Holy Ghost. It was there 
determined against the Greeks that the Holy Ghost proceeded 
both from the Father and the Son. 

1 Johannes Damascenus, an antagonist of the Icononiacha?, has this pasage. 01%. 

ztti twtos o a.°T0; xeu oTnos, akka iri QoiTY.crieo: rov FLvi6u,xro; ayiol wrig$vui: fUTasr&iouyreu 
iig to o-aJua, tou XpitrTov, z-oc) to <zTfx>a. %-u) eSx vert I0o t «XX* e» xou to cc-jto, Joh. Dainasce- 
nus de Orthodox. Fide, lib. iv. c. 14. 

2 MiTOvariaxrtt. 



Frejns. 



( 185 ) 



CHAPTEK XI. 

HISTORY OF THE CHEISTIAX CHURCH IN THE NINTH AND 
TENTH CENTURIES. 

The external state of the Church in the ninth century derived its a.d. 826. 
complexion chiefly from the character of Charlemagne. The zeal External 
of that great monarch for the propagation of Christianity was Church the 
ardent, but his piety was debased by violence and superstition ; 
and thus, although the propagation of the gospel during his reign 
was extensive, yet as we have already remarked, it was too fre- 
quently effected by force rather than by argument. His son, Louis 
the Debonnaire, inherited manv of the faults of his father without 
his counterbalancing virtues or talents. Yet the missionaries who 
were sent to instruct and convert the barbarous nations in the 
north of Europe displayed a conduct worthy of the religion which 
they professed. Although the system of religion which they 
taught was corrupted, yet their mode of inculcating it was by 
ratiocination, enforced in most instances by exemplary living. 

Under the reign of Louis the Debonnaire, Christianity was estab- Conversion 
lished among the inhabitants of Sweden and Denmark. Harald, and s-weden 
the expelled sovereign of Jutland, purchased the Emperor's assist- 
ance for his restoration by the adoption of Christianity. He, with 
his queen and a large train of Danish nobles, was presented at the 
font of the church of St. Albans in Mayence, a.d. 826, and there 
made a solemn profession of the Christian faith, renouncing " the 
works and words of the Devil, of Thor, and Wodin, and Saxonodin, 
with all the evil spirits, their confederates ;" and on his return to 
his native country he was accompanied by two priests, named 
Ansgar and Authbert, the former a monk of Corby, in "Westphalia, ^ t s g^ r a t nd 
the latter belonging to a monastery of the same name in France. 
Those missionaries preached the gospel with remarkable success, 
till, after the expiration of two years, death removed Authbert, and 
Ansgar pursued his labours alone. The loss which he had sus- 
tained did not repress his activity. He travelled into Sweden, 
where he was rewarded by the unexampled success of his ministry, 
and after a residence of three years there returned to Germany, 
where he was honourably received by Louis, and was created 
Archbishop of Hamburg. This was rather a post of danger than 
of profit, and the perils in which it involved Ansgar were truly 
formidable. His toils were incessant, and they ended but with his 
life, after having supported them through a long period of more 
than thirty years. 1 

1 An account of this prelate is to be found in Fabricius, Bib. Med. JEvi, torn. i. 
p. 292. 



186 



THE CUBISTIXS" CHUECH IN THE XIXIH CENTURY. 



A.D. S40. 

Other con- 
versions. 



Persecu- 
tions of 
Christianity. 



State of 
learning. 



Abdallah. 



The Carlo- 
vingian race. 



The Maesians, Bulgarians, and G-azarians, and after them the 
Bohemians and ^loravians, were converted by Methodius and Cyril. 
two Greek monks under the patronage of the Empress Theodora. 
A solemn embassy was sent to Constantinople by certain provinces 
of Dalmatia, declaring then resolution of submitting to the Grecian 
Empire and of embracing the Christian faith. The warlike nation 
of the Russians also was converted in this century, and a Church 
was established by the Greek patriarch Ignatius, under the govern- 
ment of an archbishop. 1 

These accessions to Christendom were by no means a compen- 
sation for the calamities of the Church under the growing power 
of the Saracens, who were now masters of Asia, with the exception 
of a few provinces, and were extending their conquests in Europe 
also. In the East a large number of Christians professed the reli- 
gion of then- conquerors, in order that they might retain their 
possessions. In the West the Christians were exposed to the fury 
of those barbarous nations which issued from the North. 

The state of learning in the ninth century was by no means so 
depressed as might be expected from the unsettled condition both of 
the Eastern and Western Empire. There was now a twilight 
which rendered the darkness of the succeeding age more deep by 
contrast. The liberality of the Emperors, and the generous patron- 
age of the patriarchs of Constantinople, particularly of Photius, 
rendered the capital of the East the residence of a certain number 
of learned men. Eloquence, poetry, and history were cultivated 
there, and the study of philosophy, which had been long neglected, 
was revived under the Emperors Theophilus and Michael. At the 
head of the men of science was Leo. surnamed the Wise, an eccle- 
siastic of extraordinary erudition, who was afterwards bishop of 
Thessalonica. 

Xot onlv anions: the Christians did learning and science partially 
revive, but the Arabians also were excited to literary pursuits by 
the example of Almamunus or Abdallah, the celebrated khalif of 
Egypt. 2 He erected schools at Bagdad, Cupa, and Bassora ; drew 
to his court the learned of all countries by his extraordinary liber- 
ality ; and caused translations of the best Grecian works to be 
made into the Arabic language. 

In that part of Europe which was subject to the dominion of the 
Franks there was no less ardour for the advancement of learning. 
The first successors of Charlemagne imitated the zeal of their an- 
cestor for the encouragement of literature and science. Louis the 
Debonnaire formed and executed several designs for their promotion, 
and Charles the Bald was the rival of Abdallah himself. His bro- 



1 Spanheim, Hist. Christ, scec. ix. In this century Christianity was propagated 



in 



India" by the Nestorians. Mar. Thomas, a Syrian, established Churches on the coast 
of Malabar. 
2 For an account of this khalif see D'Herbelot, Bib. Orient, art. Maman. 



TABLE OP POPE JOAK. 1ST 

ther Lothaire endeavoured to revive science in Italy, but his efforts a.d. S53. 
were frustrated through the corruption and ignorance of the clergy. 

The degeneracy of the sacred order in the ninth century rose to Degeneracy 
an enormous height, and their licentiousness and impiety have called oftliecler ^- 
forth the just censure of all impartial historians. Their ignorance 
was not less deplorable. Many of them were unable to write or 
even to read, and most were incapable of explaining their corrupted 
faith with any tolerable degree of perspicuity. In the East the 
favour of the court was the only step to the high and influential 
dignity of patriarch of Constantinople ; and even after its attain- 
ment nothing was more common than to see a patriarch degraded 
by an imperial decree. The Eoman pontiffs in this century ob- 
tained from Charles the Bald the important privilege of an election 
by the suffrages of the clergy without the imperial ratification ; 
yet tins mode of election was not more pure than that of the 
Eastern patriarch. The election was rarely conducted with any 
observance of law, order, or decencv, and was generally followed by 
civil tumult and commotion. 

Few of the prelates who were raised to the Western pontificate 
could boast either of learning or virtue ; not a few are known only 
bv their flagitious actions : but the universal aim of the heads of 
• the Western Church appears to have been an extension of then' 
authority wherever it was not acknowledged, or an enlargement of 
then power over those Churches which owned their supremacy. 

It was in this century that the elevation of a woman to the ^ able ° f 
pontifical throne is said to have taken place. It was long believed 
that a woman named Gilberte. by birth a native of I\Iavence. but 
of English descent, assumed male attire, studied at Athens, was 
reputed a man. and having taken religious vows and distinguished 
herself by great learning and ability, was elected to the papacy on 
the death of Leo IV. in 853. ! under the style of John Till. ; that 
when the imperial title devolved on Louis II. that emperor was 
crowned by her hands at Rorne ; and that but for a subsequent 
unhappy discovery her name might have descended to posterity as 
one ol the most unblemished pontiffs by whom the tiara had been 
worn. Yielding, however, to a natural weakness, she listened too 
freely to a cardinal, one. of her chaplains, to whom either chance or 
her own attachment had revealed the mystery of her sex ; and the 
consequence of their intercourse was the public delivery of the suc- 
cessor of St. Peter in the open streets of Eome, between the Colos- 
seum and the Church of St. Clement, during a religious procession. 
The ambiguous pope died in giving birth to the child ; the route 
of the procession was altered for the future, so that it might not 
pass near the polluted spot ; a statue was erected in commemo- 
ration of the incident ; and certain ingenious precautions were 
adopted to prevent its recurrence. This tissue of fables, with an 

1 Leo IT. really died in 855. 



188 



THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IX THE KTNTH CENTURY. 



Increasing 
power of 
the papacy. 



a.d. 870. occasional addition that the female pope was a magician, has fur- 
nished materials for reproach or for regret, for accusation or for 
denial, to many controversial writers, according as they were 
friendly or hostile to the Church of Eome ; and it is not impos- 
sible, in spite of its distinct refutation by the research even of Pro- 
testants. During five centuries succeeding this event, however, it 
was almost generally believed, nor was it until after the Reforma- 
tion that it became questioned. The arguments of Bayle (ad v. 
Papesse), who rejects the story, have acquired greater credence 
than those of Spanheim, 1 who maintains it ; and the general opin- 
ion seems to be that the testimonies by which the fact is sup- 
ported are insufficient, and that it is inconsistent with the most 
accurate chronological computations. 

It is universally acknowledged, even by the advocates of the 
papacy, that from the time of Louis the Debonnaire the ecclesias- 
tical state of Europe underwent a complete change. The Euro- 
pean sovereigns were divested of their supreme authority in the 
religious polity of their respective kingdoms ; the power of the 
bishops was greatly restrained ; and the authority of Councils began 
to decline. The Roman pontiffs succeeded in persuading the 
world, that the Bishop of Rome was constituted by Jesus Christ 
the supreme legislator and judge of the Universal Church. 

In order to establish this usurpation, a variety of memorials, 
deeds, and other records were forged, in order that it might appear 
as if the Roman pontiffs enjoyed, in the first ages of the Church, 
the privileges which they now so arrogantly claimed. Among 
these forgeries the 'Decretal Epistles' chiefly deserve to be men- 
tioned. They were said to have been written by the pontiffs of 
the primitive times, although they were actually the prdduction of 
some obscure and later writer, who, in order to obtain respect for 
his inventions, published them under the name and authority of 
Isidore, bishop of Seville in the seventh century. The prelates, as 
a token of humility, frequently added to then' names the word pec- 
cator, a sinner ; and some ignorant transcriber ludicrously changed 
this word in the title of the ' Decretals' to mercator; so that these 
forgeries have always passed as the collection of a writer who is 
no more than imaginary, one Isidorus Mercator. 2 

Yet even in the Latin Church there were men of prudence and 
sagacity who discovered these frauds. The Gallican bishops dis- 
tinguished themselves by the spirit with which they opposed the 
spurious ' Decretals ;' but the pertinacit}^ of the pontiffs, and par- 
ticularly of Nicholas I., subdued their opposition, and their defeat 
struck terror into all who were disposed to support the expiring 
liberties of the Church. 



The forged 
Decretals. 



1 Spanheim, Exercitatio de Papa Fcemina. Op. torn. ii. lib. v. The dissertation of 
Spanheim is well worthy attention, since he has considered the objections of Blonde!, 
who rejects the story. Blondel was not a member of the Church of Rome, but a 
zealous Presbyterian. 2 Cave, Hist. Lit. torn. ii. p. 21. 



DAEK AGES. 189 

The tenth century is commonly styled the Dark Age or the Iron a.d. 912. 
Age of the Church, and the deplorable state of Christianity is The Dark 
freely acknowledged even by the Eomanist historians. 1 The A s e - 
Christian religion suffered little from the persecutions of its ene- 
mies, but much from the ignorance and vices of its professors. Its 
external state has been deemed not unprosperous, for Christianity 
was propagated in this century, although in a corrupted form, yet 
with considerable success. 

The Nestorians displayed great industry and zeal in the dissemi- Christianity 
nation of their tenets, and they now extended then 1 spiritual con- Sto°Tartary. 
quests beyond Mount Imaus. Through them a knowledge of the 
gospel was introduced into Tartary, particularly among a most 
powerful tribe known by the name of Karit, bordering on the 
northern part of China, and no inconsiderable portion of Asiatic 
Scythia became subject to bishops set over them by the Nestorian 
pontiff. In Europe, the Christian religion spread among the 
uncivilized tribes of the north with equal rapidity ; and when 
Eollo with his Norwegian band was invested with the duchy of Northern 
Normandy, he, together with his followers, probably greatly in con- urope ' 
sequence of the worldlv advantages it promised them, embraced 
the Christian faith 2 a.d. 912. 

Christianity was introduced into Poland through Dambracka, Poland, 
daughter of Bolislaus, duke of Bohemia. She succeeded in persuad- 
ing her husband Micislaus, duke of Poland, to renounce paganism, 
a.d. 965. Her exhortations were seconded by the reigning pontiff, 
John XIII. iEgidius, bishop of Tusculum, with a numerous 
train of missionaries, was sent into Poland, and the exhortations 
of these ecclesiastics, because they were enforced by regal edicts, 
and penal laws, were successful in securing, at least, an outward 
profession of Christianity. Two archbishoprics and seven suffragan 
bishoprics constituted the establishment of the Polish Church. 

By similar influence the faith of Christ also extended itself even Russia. 
into Eussia. Wlodemir, duke of that country, having married 
Anne, sister of Basilius II., was persuaded by his consort to em- 
brace the Christian faith a.d. 969. The Russians, without the 
terror of penal laws, adopted the religion of their prince, and 
Wlodemir and his duchess are still placed among the saints of 
Eussia. 

Through the indefatigable zeal of Charlemagne, the Hungarians Hungary, 
and Avari had received some faint notions of Christianity in the 
preceding century, but these notions were almost obliterated, until 
Bolosudes and Gylas, two Turkish chiefs, 3 made a public profession 
of the true religion, and were baptized at Constantinople a.d. 970. 

1 Novum inchoatur sseculum, quod sua asperitate et boni sterilitate Ferreum ; ma- 
lique exundantis deformitate Plumbeum ; atque inopia scriptoruni appellare consuevk 
Obscurum. Baronius. 

2 Rollo at his baptism assumed the name of Robert. * 

3 Then- government lay on the banks of the Danube. 



190 



THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH EN" THE TENTH CENTURY . 



Denmark. 



a.d. 970. The former of these powerful chieftains soon apostatized, but the 
latter was an active promoter of Christian education. Geysa. the 
chief of the Hungarians, was an unsteady and lukewarm convert- 
but his son Stephen founded the Hungarian Church. He stationed 
bishops with large revenues in various places of his kingdom, 
erected churches and schools, and thus induced his subjects almost 
without exception to renounce the superstitions of their ancestors. 

In Denmark, Christianity was in a state of great depression, 
until Harald its king embraced the gospel, about the middle of 
this century. It is said that his public profession of Christianitv 
was in obedience to the command of his conqueror Otho the Great, 
but it is probable that his own conviction co-operated with the will 
of his victor. Upon the conversion of Harald, two missionaries, 
named Adaldagus and Poppon, employed their ministerial labours 
among the Cimbrians and Danes, and Poppon, in addition to the 
ordinary means of conversion, resorted to those which were mira- 
culous. His miracles indeed were of such a kind as evinced them 
to be the effects of human art, and not of Divine power. 1 While 
Harald lived, he used the most prudent measures for the propaga- 
tion of the gospel among his subjects, but his son and successor 
Sweyn apostatized from Christianity, and became its persecutor. 
Adversity, however, wrought in him a salutary change : he was 
driven from his kingdom, and during his exile he sought consola- 
tion in the faith which he had renounced. He was restored to his 
dominions, and exerted the most ardent zeal in promoting the 
knowledge of Christianity. 

The conversion of Norway also belongs to the tenth century. Its 
kino" Ha^en Adelstun a.d. 933, had been educated in England, and 
he employed English missionaries to instruct his subjects. Slow was 
the progress of religious light in this barbarous country, and dim 
were its rays ; vet it was from this source that the Orknev Islands 
derived their knowledge of Christianitv. 2 

These accessions to the Church were of far less importance than 
the stability and consistence which it acquired in Germany, under 
the protection of Otho the Great. That illustrious prince was 
constantly employed in supporting or founding establishments for 
the propagation of the Christian religion. He erected and endowed 
the bishoprics of Brandenburg, Havelburg, Meissen, Magdeburg, 
and Naumburg. His munificence was not always guided by pru- 
dence, but this defect must be attributed to the ignorance of the 
age, and perhaps to the superstition of Adelaide his empress. 

The chief external malign influences by which the Church was 
afflicted were, in the East, the assiduous propagandism of the 
Saracens and the enmity of the Turks, and in the West, the per- 



Norway. 



Germany. 



1 Pontoppidan, Annal. Eccles. Diplom. torn. i. p. 59. 

2 Ibid, p. 66. ' For trie conversion of the Orkneys, see Torfaei, Hist. Eerum Oread. 
lib. i. 



THE EOMA^ PONTIFFS. 191 

secutions of the heathen. Gormon and his grandson Sweyn dealt a.d. 972. 
most harshly with believers, the Normans, for upwards of fifty 
years, most unscrupulously injured the Christians in G-aul, the 
Prussians, Sclavonians, Hungarians and Bohemians, perpetrated 
the most outrageous barbarities on the clergy and their flocks, and 
the Arabs in Spain with tyrannous zeal opposed the progress of 
the gospel. In consequence of all these woes, it is not to be 
wondered at that the princes and monarchs who believed in Jesus 
should endeavour to win the unbelievers, by force or guile, to an 
acknowledgment of those principles which wove into harmony, 
security, peace, virtue, and religion, This we have seen they 
accomplished with considerable success. The internal evils were, 
however, both numerous and flagrant. In no age were the cor- 
ruptions of the clergy greater than in this, and they increased in 
proportion with the wealth of the Church. The history of the 
Roman pontiffs is, as may be gathered from the following brief 
outline, a narrative of the most flagitious crimes. 

On the death of Benedict IV., a.d. 903, Leo V. was chosen 
to succeed him ; but he had only held rule for forty days, when 
Christopher, the cardinal of St. Lawrence, dethroned and im- 
prisoned him. Next year Sergius III., assisted by Adelbert of 
Tuscany, deprived him of the papal dignity and reigned in his 
stead. Sergius died a.d. 911, and was succeeded by Anastasius 
III., and Lando, neither of whom were either useful or holy. 
When Lando died, a.d. 914, Adelbert at the suggestion of his 
mother-in-law, a wanton, by name Theodora, appointed her lover, 
under the designation of John X., to the papal dignity. He was 
seized, imprisoned, and murdered, a.d. 928, by Guido, the husband 
of Theodora's daughter, Marozia ; and was succeeded by Leo VI., 
who dying six months ; thereafter, was followed by Stephen VII. 
In two years after that, a.d. 931, he died, and Marozia contrived 
to get her son — of illicit birth, whose father was Pope Sergius III. 
— elected to the pontificate. This elevation, a.d. 933, he lost 
through the enmity of his step-brother, by the mother's side, who 
cast him into prison, where he died, a.d. 936. During the next 
twenty years no fewer than four popes filled St. Peter's chair, viz., 
Leo Y1L., Stephen VIIL, Marin us II., and Agapetus. On the 
demise of the latter, Octavius, prince of Eome, a youth wholly 
unfit for such an office, seized the vacant dignity, changing his 
name, at the time, to John XII. He was, at the instance of 
Otho the Great of Germany, accused of the most flagrant crimes, 
found guilty, formally deposed, and subsequently assassinated, a.d. 
964, when carrying on an adulterous intrigue. Leo VIIL was 
placed by Otho on the papal throne, and on his death the Eomans 
chose Benedict V. Him the Emperor took captive, and carried to 
Hamburg ; and raised John XIII. to the vacancy, a.d. 965, which 
he retained till a.d. 972. Benedict VI. reigned in his stead, but 



192 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH Ef THE TENTH CENTURY. 

a.d. 998. was strangled in prison by Crescentius, the son of the too-notorious 
intriguante Theodora. Boniface VII. was driven from Rome after 
a month's reign, and Donmus II. occupied the chair in peace 
till a.d. 975, at which time Boniface thrust himself again into 
the chair, although Benedict YIL, grandson of Adelbert, was 
invested with the tiara. John XIV., an eleve of Otho III., was 
chosen to succeed Benedict Vil., but Boniface imprisoned and 
murdered him. In six months thereafter Boniface VII. died, and 
John XY. or XYI. — for some make a pope John the cotemporary 
of Boniface — a scion of a noble Roman house, governed the troubled 
Church in tolerable peace until a.d. 996. Otho III. commanded 
the Romans to accept Gregory Y. This the Roman consul 
Crescens refused to do, and expelled him from the city ; but Otho 
returned to Italy a.d. 998, and depriving John of his eyes, nose, 
and ears, imprisoned him till his death. Gregory Y. did not long 
enjoy the dignity conferred upon him, and Otho with the approba- 
tion of the Romans bestowed the chair on his tutor Sylvester 
II. Yet notwithstanding their great profligacy and the fre- 
quent commotions by which Rome was disturbed, the papal 
power received large accessions of strength. Otho the Great 
published an edict prohibiting the election of any pontiff, with- 
out the previous consent of the Emperor ; but the Bishops of 
Rome, partly by stratagem and partly by violence, found means of 
eluding or opposing that decree. Many bishops and abbots ob- 
tained for their tenets and possessions an immunity from secular 
jurisdiction and all imposts ; and for themselves an absolute civil 
as well as spiritual dominion in their respective territories. 



( 193 ) 



CHAPTEE XII. 

ECCLESIASTICAL WEITEES OF THE NINTH AND TENTH 

CENTURIES. 



NINTH CENTURY. 

Greek Writers. 
Photius. 
Ignatius. 
Nicephorus. 
Leo VI. 

Latin Writers. 

Rabanus Maueus. 

Agobard. 

Claudius. 

Eginhaed. 

Gild as. 

gotteschalc. 

HtNCMAK. 

Paschasius Radbert. 
Bertramn, or Ratramn. 
Hat3io, or Adio. 
Walaeredus Strabo, or 
Strabus. 



TENTH CENTURY. 

Greek Writers. 

Simeon Metaphrastes. 

Nicon. 

(Ecumenius and Olympiodorus. 

Latin Writers. 

constantius viii. porphyro-geneta- 

Eutychius. 

Gerbert, or Sylvester II, 

Ratheir. 

Atto. 

DUNSTAN. 

JElfric, or Alfric. 

burchard. 

Odllo. 

Syrian Writer. 
Moses Barcepha. 



PHOTIUS. 

DIED CIRCITER a.d. 886. 

The ninth century is styled the Photian Age, and therefore this a.d. 886 
illustrious patriarch of Constantinople claims the first place in the Early life. 
catalogue of learned men. His extraction was of the highest order, 
and his connections enabled him to attain the chief dignities in the 
State at an early period of life. His elevation to the patriarchate 
of Constantinople was so far from being solicited, that it was 
accepted with the greatest reluctance, since the see was vacant 
by the deposition of Ignatius, and he consequently incurred the 
resentment of a formidable party. That party, on the accession of 
the Emperor Basil, 1 had sufficient influence to procure the depo- 
sition of Photius and the condemnation of his doctrines. He was 
compelled to submit to a rigorous exile, deprived of the consolation 
of his friends, and, what was more painful, of his books. After 
a lapse of nine years the Emperor relented, and Photius was re- 
called from banishment and reinstated in his see. Yet a reverse 



1 For the civil history of the Eastern Empire, which will elucidate this and other 
transactions of the Greek Church during the ninth century, see Hist, of the Ottoman 
Empire, hy Col. Procter, &c chap. i. 



O 



194 WEITEES OF THE NINTH AXD TEXTH CENTURIES. 

a.d. 828- °^ f° r t un e again clouded his latter years ; the intrigues of 
his enemies induced the Emperor to depose him a second time, 
and he retired to a monastery, in which he shortly afterwards 
died. 
Works. His writings are an evidence of his profound and universal eru- 

dition, and his high attainments obtained the commendation even 
of his enemies. 1 His great work is his ' Bibliotheca,' in which is 
shown the acuteness of his genius, the solidity of his judgment, 
and the extent of his reading. His 'Epistles' exhibit him as a 
philosopher, a mathematician, a philologist, a lawyer, and a 
divine. 

We have yet extant, though slumbering in MSS., his ' Amphi- 
lochia,' a theological treatise in the form of a catechism, a Catena 
' On the Psalms,' a collection of canons and homilies, besides 
tracts on the ' Procession of the Holv Ghost ' and " against the 
Manichaeans." 

The eclitio princeps of the 'Bibliotheca' or Mvriobiblion is that 
of Bekker, 2 vols. 8vo, 1824. 

Dupin, ' Eccl. Hist.' ; Fabric. ' Bib. Grsec' lib. v. c. 38 : Ca- 
rnurat, ' Histoire des Jonnaux,' torn. i. p. 57; Cave, 'Hist. Lit.' 
torn. ii. pp. 47-50. 

IGXATIUS. 

DIED A.D. 878. AGED 80. 

The rival of Photius, and patriarch of Constantinople, but far 
inferior to him in erudition. Although deposed and banished prior 
to the elevation of Photius, he was restored to his see in a.d. 867 
by Basil, at once the murderer and successor of Michael III. : 
his restoration was confirmed by the General Council of Constanti- 
nople held a.d. 869, and he held his office till his death a.d. 878, 
after which event Photius was again his successor. There are 
three of his tracts extant, viz. ' An Epistle to Pope Xicholas, a.d. 
867,' ' An Address to the Synod,' and ' An Epistle to Pope Adrian,' 
These three pieces are in Latin. 

'Concil.' torn. viii. pp. 1009, 1097, 1171; Cave, 'Hist. Lit.' 
torn. ii. p. 40. 

NICEPHORUS, 

DIED A.D. 828, 

patriarch of Constantinople, published a defence of image-worship, 
in which he treats the Iconoclastse with great severitv. 
'Act. Sanct.' torn, ii ; Cave, 'Hist. Lit.' torn. ii. p. 4. 

B/cAs? it' <y.ircv lfp6i -euro,, rr)A0'< li Teivrut 9 ixe &«f«5 '-£^', c;' ov a.lr-2 ay.] tOXT»s cclr\c( rr-(l 
T'/jv aiccyvacriv iu,u,i\vs itrzo/.azort. Xicetas, ^ it. Igliatii. 



LEO — BABA3TUS MAJTRUS — AGOBARD. 195 

LEO VI. 

REIGNED FROM A.D. 886 TO A.D. 911. 

This Emperor, who has been distinguished by the surname of the A - I) - 840. 
Wise, was born at Constantinople and was a pupil of Photius. studies. 
Under such a preceptor he made a suitable proficiency in history, 
philosophy, and jurisprudence ; and he devoted himself also to a 
less profitable study, that of astrology. When he attained the 
imperial crown, he made but an ungrateful return to the instructor 
of his youth, for he removed Photius from the patriarchal see. 
His works are numerous, but in little esteem. 

Fabric. 'Bib. Grsec' lib. v. c. 5. sec. 8; Cave, 'Hist. Lit.' 
torn. ii. p. 64. 

RABANUS MAURUS. 

DIED A.D. 856. 

The Latin writers of this century are far more numerous and Education. 
more esteemed than the Greek ; and at the head of these is de- 
servedly placed Rabanus Maurus. He was educated by Alcuin, 
and embraced a monastic life ; but being compelled by the dissen- 
sions of the monastery in which he lived to quit his retirement, 
he was raised to the archiepiscopal see of Mentz. He may be 
called the luminary of France and Germany, since it was from him 
that those nations principally derived their religious instruction. 
His writings were regarded with so great veneration that the most 
eminent Latin divines appealed to them as an authority. 

For a list of his numerous works see Dupin, 'Hist. Eccl.' 
saec. ix. ; Cave, ' Hist. Lit.' torn. ii. p. 36. For a more particular 
account of his life and writings see ' Histoire Litteraire de France,' 
torn. v. p. 151. 

AGOBARD, 

DIED A.D. 840, 

a native of Gaul and archbishop of Lyons, is more highly esteemed 

for his literary than his political character ; for he is accused of Character, 

having fomented the rebellion of Lothaire and Pepin against their 

father, Louis the Debonnaire. He is chiefly celebrated for his 

skill in ecclesiastical law and his love of ecclesiastical discipline. 

His deep knowledge of the antiquities of the Christian Church 

induced him to oppose with great zeal the use and the worship of 

images, and his treatise on that subject has greatly embarrassed 

the doctors of the Romish Church. 

'Hist. Lit. de France,' torn. iv. p. 547; Cave, 'Hist. Lit.' 
torn. i. p. 11. 



196 TVKITEES OF THE ITINTH AXD TENTH CEXTUEIT. 

CLAUDIUS, 

DIED A.D. 839, 

a.d. 870. is surnamed Scotus, but he was a Spaniard by birth, and was 
works. Bishop of Turin. His knowledge of the Holy Scriptures was 
accurate, and he composed one hundred and eleven books of com- 
mentaries on ' Genesis/ four on ' Exodus,' and several on ' Leviti- 
cus.' He wrote also an ' Exposition of the Gospel' of St. Matthew 
and on the ' Epistles' of St. Paul. 

'Hist. Lit. de France;' Dupin, ' Eccl. Hist.'; Cave. 'Hist. 
Lit.' torn. h. p. 11. 

EGINHAKD, 

DIED CIECITER A.D. 840, 

was a German bv birth, and a confidential counsellor of Charle- 
magne. On the death of his royal master, he separated from his 
wife by mutual consent, and retired into a monastery. He was 
abbot of two other monasteries before he obtained the rule of 
Chief Work. Selingestat. His chief work is the 'Life of Charlemagne,' re- 
markable for the elegance of its stvle. 

'Hist. Lit. de France,' torn. iv. p. 530; Cave, 'Hist. Lit.* 
torn. ii. p. 14. 

GILD AS. 

FL. A.D. 820 ET DEIXCEPS. 

The ' History of Britain," which Bale has ascribed to this writer, 
is clearly shown by Cave to have been the work of Xennius. 

GOTTESCHALC. 

DIED CIECITER A.D. 870. 

This writer, who is also known by the name of Fulgentius. from 
the brilliancy of his genius, was a native of France, and a monk of 
Ordination. ^he Benedictine order at Orbais. Soon after his admission to the 
priesthood he repaired to Borne. On his return to his native 
country he took up his abode with Count Eberald, a nobleman 
belonging to the court of the Emperor Lothaire. A more copious 
account of him, and also of his antagonist, Hincmar, will be found 
in our next chapter. 

HLXCaIAK. 

DIED A.D. 882. 

This turbulent prelate, but able theologian, was archbishop of 
Bheims. His works are numerous, and although mostly contro- 
versial, they throw a great light on the civil and ecclesiastical his- 



PASCHASITTS EADBEET — BERTRAM', ETC. 197 

tory of the times in which he lived. They have heen collected by a.d. 890. 
Pere Sirmond, the learned Jesuit, 1 and published in two vols, folio, 
Paris, 1647. 

'Hist. Lit. de France, 5 torn. v. p. 416 ; Cave, 'Hist. Lit.' tom. 
ii. pp. 33, 34. 

PASCHASIUS RADBERT. 

DIED A.D. 851. 

This name is famous in the controversy concerning the Real 
Presence of Christ's body in the Eucharist, under which head it 
is noticed. He was first a monk, and afterwards abbot of 
the monastery of Corby, and was consequently the ecclesiastical 
superior of 

BERTRAMS, OR RATRAMX, 

DIED CLRCITER A.D. 890, 

whose work on the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was composed 
by order of Charles the Bald, in opposition to those who asserted chief work. 
the Real Presence. Several editions of this treatise have ap- 
peared, and among them two in England of the dates of 1686 and 
1688. 

Cave, ' Hist. Lit.' torn. ii. ; Radbert, p. 32 ; Bertramn, p. 27. 

HAYMO, OR AIMO, 

DIED A.D. 853, 

was a pupil of Alcuin, a fellow-student and friend of Rabanus 
Maurus, and afterwards Bishop of Halberstadt. He wrote ; Com- 
mentaries on the Psalms,' on the Prophet Isaiah, on the ' Epistles' 
of Saint Paul, and on the ' Apocalypse,' and also a l Summary of the 
Ecclesiastical History.' He took a part in the controversy on the 
Real Presence. It is proper to observe that a great part of the 
writings commonly attributed to Haymo were the production of 
Remi, or Remigius of Auxerre. 
Cave, ' Hist. Lit.' tom. ii. p. 28. 

WALAFRIDUS STRABO, OR STRABUS. 

DDZD A.D. 849. 

The reputation of this author depends on his ' Poems,' his - Lives 
of the Saints,' and his ' Glosses' on some difficult parts of Scripture. 

' Hist. Lit. de France,' tom. v. p. 544 ; Cave, ' Hist. Lit.' tom. 
ii. p. 31. 

1 Who has passed on them the following encomium : In iis nihil esse quod utilitate 
sua careat, et in quo prsestans autoris judicium cam scientia non eluceat. 



198 WEITEBS OF THE FIFTH AND TENTH CENTURIES. 

SIMEON METAPHRASTES, 

FL. A.D. 912, 

a.d. 912. was descended from an illustrious Greek family, and was promoted 
Birth. by Leo VI. to the highest dignity in the State, the treasurership 

or chancellorship of the Empire. Such portions of his time as 
were not employed in public business he devoted to literature, 
particularly to the illustration of ecclesiastical antiquities. By 
the command of Constantine VII., the son of Leo, he under- 
took to give a more elegant style to the c Lives of the 
Saints,' which had been originally composed in a barbarous 
language, and hence he was distinguished by the name of 
Metaphrast, or Translator. The genuine lives amount to not 
less than one hundred and twenty-two, besides which there are 
ninety-five reckoned spurious. He was the author also of some 
poems and prayers. 

Leo Allatius ' de Symeonum Scriptis,' p. 94 ; Cave, ' Hist. Lit.' 
torn. ii. pp. 89, 90 ; Spanheim, ' Hist. Christ.' ssec. x. sec. 10. 

NICON, 

OB. A.D. 998, 

was an Armenian, and at an early age embraced the monastic life, 
but was employed as a missionary. He composed a treatise ' On 
the Religion of the Armenians,' which was edited by Cotelerius. 
The Jesuit Sirmond translated his ' Annals ' into Latin from the 
original Greek. 

Cave, ' Hist. Lit.' torn. ii. p. 103 ; Spanheim, ' Hist. Christ.' 
ssec. x. sec. 10. 

CECUMENIUS AND OLYMPIODORUS 

are of uncertain date, but are most generally placed among the 
Catenae. authors of the tenth century. They were distinguished for those 
compilations called by the Latins ' Catenae,' or ' Chains,' being a 
collection of the opinions and interpretations of the doctors of the 
Church. (Ecumenius was commonly called ' the Greek Scholiast 
on the New Testament.' His works have been edited ; Grsece, 
Verona, a.d. 1532 ; Lat. Venet. a.d. 1556 ; Gr. and Lat. Paris, 
1631, 2 torn. fol. 

Cave, ' Hist. Lit.' torn. ii. p. 112 ; Spanheim, ' Hist. Christ.' 
ssec. x. sec. x. 

CONSTANTINUS VIII. PORPHYRO-GENETA. 

OB. A.D. 959. 

This learned prince was the son of Leo the Wise, and succeeded 
to the imperial crown when he was only seven years of age. He 
was the universal patron of learned men, but his own favourite 



EUTYCHITTS — GERBERT — EATHEIE. 199 

study was history. His chief work is on historical and political a.d. 950. 
pandects, the greater part of which is lost. 

Cave, 'Hist. Lit.' torn. ii. p. 92; Spanheim, 'Hist. Christ.' 
ssec. x. sec. 10. 

EUTYCHIUS. 

OB. A.D. 950. 

Among the Arabians no author has acquired a higher reputation 
than Eutychius, bishop of Alexandria. His 'Annals,' from the works. 
foundation of the world to the year of Christ 940, contain much 
curious information, although debased by puerilities and incredible 
fictions. An abstract of these 'Annals' in the original Arabic, 
with a Latin version, was published by Selden, a.d. 1642, London. 
The entire work, with the preface of Selden, enriched with Arabic 
and Latin annotations, was edited by Pocock, a.d. 1659, Oxon. 
Besides his 'Annals' Eutychius was the author of a work on 
the affairs of Sicily after its capture by the Saracens ; and also 
of a disputation between the heterodox and Christians in op- 
position to the Jacobites. He wrote also some treatises on 
medicine. 

Jo. Albert Fabricii, ' Bibliographia Antiquaria,' p. 179; Eusebii 
Renaudoti, ' Hist. Patriarch. Alexand.' p. 347 ; Cave, ' Hist. Lit.' 
torn. ii. p. 96 ; Spanheim, ' Hist. Christ.' ssec. x. sec. 10. 

GERBERT, OR SYLVESTER II. 

POXTIFEX A.D. 999, OB. A.D. 1003. 

This pontiff claims the first place among the Latin writers of 
the tenth century, as an astronomer, mathematician, and cultivator 
of the practical sciences. Besides his mathematical works, he is 
the author of ' Epistles,' both while he was archbishop of Eheims, 
and also after he was raised to the pontificate. Several of his works 
are yet extant. 

' Hist. Lit. de France,' torn. vi. p. 558 ; Cave, ' Hist. Lit.' torn. ii. 
pp. 11, 116. 

RATHEIR. 
OB. a.d, 973. 

A bishop of Yerona, more fitted for a life of retirement and 
study than for a public station. His works, which are yet extant, 
discover great sagacity as well as learning. 

' Hist Lit. de France,' torn. vi. p. 339 ; Cave, ' Hist. Lit.' torn. ii. 
p. 95 ; Spanheim, ' Hist. Christ.' ssec. x. sec. 10. 



200 weitees or the ninth and tenth centueii 

ATTO. 

OB. POST A.D. 960. 

a.d. you. ^ bishop of Vercelli, and the author of a treatise ' De Pressuris 
Ecclesiasticis,' i.e. concerning the sufferings and grievances of the 
Church. 

' Hist. Lit. de France,' torn. vi. p. 281 ; Cave, ' Hist. Lit.' torn. ii. 
p. 99. 

DUXSTAX. 

OB. a.d. 988. 

The only work of Dunstan which remains is a book in favour of 
Monachism, entitled ' De Concordia Regularum,' or ' The Harmony 
of the Monastic Rules.' It contains twelve chapters, and has been 
placed as an appendix to Keimer's work on the c Antiquity of the 
Benedictine Order in England,' Douay, 1626. 

Cave, ' Hist. Lit.' torn ii. p. 102 ; Collier, £ Ecclesiastical His- 
tory of England, 7 vol. i. Cent. 10, pp. 181-203 : Warner, ' Eccl. Hist.' 
vol. i. book iv. Cent. 10 ; Goodwin, ' De Prsesul.' torn. i. 

yELFRIC, OR ALFPJC. 

OB. A.D. 1006. 

A successor, though not the immediate one, of Dunstan in the 
see of Canterbury. He was an Englishman by birth, a disciple of 
Ethelwolf, bishop of Winchester, and the successor of this prelate 
Character, in the monastery of Abingdon. There has been a controversy 
concerning iElfric ; whether there were one or two of this name, 
or rather whether iElfric the monk were iElfrie the archbishop ? 
The author before us was a man of great learning, and obtained a 
high reputation in the Anglo-Saxon Church. There is a ' Gram- 
mar' and also a e Lexicon' by him ; an Anglo-Saxon translation of 
the first books of the Holy Scriptures, a c History of the Church,' 
and 180 ' Sermons.' 

Fleury, ' Hist. Eccl.' lib. lviii. ; Cave, < Hist. Lit.' torn. ii. p. 108. 

BURCHARD. 

OB. A.D. 1005. 

A German by birth, and educated in the monastic life, but at 
length Bishop of Worms. His reputation is founded on his com- 
pilation, entitled ' Decreta,' divided into twenty books, although a 
part of the merit of this collection is due to Olbert. 

1 Hist. Lit. de France,' torn. vii. p. 295 ; Cave, i Hist. Lit.' 
torn. ii. p. 105. 



ODILO — MIOSES 3ABCEPHA. 201 

ODILO. 

OB. A.D. 1002. 

The above is commonly reputed to have been archbishop of a.d. 1002 
Lyons, but, according to Fleury, he obstinately refused that emi- 
nent station, notwithstanding the urgent entreaties both of pon- 
tiffs and emperors, choosing to remain abbot of Clugni. His 
writings never attained mediocrity, and are now sunk into total 
oblivion. 

Fleury, < Eccl. Hist.' Kb. lviii. ; Cave, ' Hist. Lit.' torn. ii. p. 114. 

MOSES BAECEPHA, 

FL. CIRC. A.D. 901, OB. A.D. 912, 

was a Syrian by birth, and on account of his extraordinary learn- 
ing and piety was appointed Bishop of Beth Earn ah. He belonged 
to the sect of the Jacobites, and on that account his works are 
not to be read without caution. His principal work, entitled ' He 
Paradiso,' in three books, has been translated into Latin, and 
edited by Andrew Masius. 1 He also wrote a c Commentary on 
Genesis,' and on the ' Gospel' of St. Matthew, a treatise 'He Anima,' 
and another entitled ' De Sectarum multitudine et Differentia.' 

4 Hist. Litteraire de France/ torn. i. ; Cave, ' Hist. Lit.' torn. ii. 
p. 91. 

Published at Antwerp, 8vo. a.d. 1569. 



( 202 ) 



CHAPTER XIII. 

HERESIES AND CONTROVERSIES OF THE NINTH AND TENTH 

CENTURIES. 



Paulicians. 
Image Worship. 
Corporeal Presence i>- 
the Eucharist. 



Predestination. 
The words Thin a Deitas. 
Manner of Christ's Birth. 
Photian Controversy. 



a.d. 803. 

Their origin. 



Persecuted 
by Constans 
and his suc- 
cessors. 

Favoured by 
Nicephorus. 



Persecuted 
anew. 



Third perse- 
cution by 
Theodora. 



Protected by 
the Saracens. 



THE PAULICIANS. 

This sect was confined almost entirely to Armenia. It is said to 
have been formed by two brothers, Paul and John, from the former 
of whom it derived its name ; though others attributed its origin 
to another Paul who lived under the reign of Justinian II. 1 It 
was censured by several imperial edicts, and had almost disappeared, 
when it was revived by a zealot, called Constantine, who lived in 
the eighth century. The Emperor Constans and his successors 
treated this sect with the greatest rigour, but thev were unable to 
suppress it. Its followers displayed the most unshaken fortitude 
under the barbarities exercised towards them. 

In the commencement of this century, the external condition of 
the Paulicians was altered, since the Emperor Xicephorus favoured 
them in a particular manner, and not only restored their freedom 
of worship, but conferred on them several religious privileges. 
Yet this temporary freedom from persecution was of short duration. 
Under the reigns of Michael Curopalates and Leo the Armenian, a 
severe inquisition was made after the Paulicians throughout all the 
provinces of the Grecian Empire, and death was inflicted on all 
such as refused to abjure their tenets. But persecution had a 
different effect on them now than formerly, for it excited vindic- 
tive desperation. Thomas, bishop of Xew Cresarea. and several of 
the imperial magistrates established in Armenia, fell victims to 
their fury, and after the commission of numerous outrages, they fled 
for refuge to the countries under Saracenic dominion, and thence 
made incursions on the neighbouring provinces of the Empire. 

A short interval of tranquillity appears to have succeeded, until 
the Empress Theodora issued a decree, leaving to the Paulicians 
the alternative of renouncing their opinions, or of being extermi- 
nated by fire and sword. This decree was executed with the most 
unrelenting cruelty ; for the imperial officers after having seized 
the property of above one hundred thousand Paulicians, inflicted 
on their possessors the most excruciating kinds of death. Those 
who escaped fled, like their predecessors, for protection to the Sara- 
cens, who received them with kindness, and permitted them to 
build for their residence a city called Tibrica. In that settlement, 



1 Phot. lib. i. contra Marricheos. 



PAULICIAIS'S. 203 

they formed a league with, their protectors, and declared against a.d. 840. 
the Greeks a war, which was carried on with the utmost fury. 1 Declare war 
Many of the Grecian provinces felt the effects of the sanguinary Greek? t e 
contest, and exhibited the most appalling scenes of desolation and 
misery. Wherever the arms of the Paulicians were victorious, Propagate 
their opinions took root, and they propagated their tenets with ^e S doc " 
great rapidity among the fierce Bulgarians. 

What those tenets were has been a matter of dispute. By the Their tenets. 
Greeks this sect was reckoned a branch of the Manichaaans, yet, 
according to Photius, the Paulicians expressed the greatest abhor- 
rence of some of the Manichsean doctrines. They had not, like the 
Manichseans, an ecclesiastical polity, administered by bishops, 
priests, and deacons. They had no sacred order, distinguished 
from the people, in their religious assemblies. They had no Coun- 
cils or Synods. They had two sorts of teachers, Sunecdemi and 
Notarii, among whom there was a perfect equality. The only dis- 
tinction which attended their religious profession was, that they 
changed their lay name, and adopted some scriptural appellation. 
The Paulicians received all the books of the ISTew Testament, ex- 
cept the two epistles of St. Peter ; and in this respect, also, they 
widely differed from the Manichseans. In their interpretations of 
Scripture, however, they used great latitude, explaining it in the 
most fanciful manner, and perverting its literal sense whenever it 
was opposed to their favourite opinions. They regarded with 
peculiar veneration certain epistles of Sergius, the most eminent 
teacher of their sect. None of the Greek writers have given a 
clear view of the whole Paulician system,, but have contented 
themselves with noticing certain prominent marks of their heresy. 
Their chief errors are represented to have been these: 1. They 
denied that this lower and visible world is the production of the 
Supreme Being; and they distinguished between the Creator of 
the world, and the Most High God. 2. They treated contempt- 
uously the Virgin Mary, by which, perhaps, is only meant, that 
they refused to render adoration or divine honour to her. 3. They 
refused to celebrate the holy institution of the Lord's Supper. 4. 
They loaded the cross of Christ with contempt or reproach, which, 
may be explained in the same manner as their contemptuous treat- 
ment of the Virgin Mary. 5. They rejected, after the example of 
the Gnostics, the books of the Old Testament, and looked on their 
writers as inspired by the Creator of the world, not by the Supreme 
God. 6. They excluded presbyters and elders from all part in the 
administration of the Church. By this must be understood that 
they refused to call their doctors by the name of presbyters, the 
latter being a word of Jewish extraction. 2 

1 They chose for their chief, Carbeas, a man of great valour. Phot. lib. i. 

2 The principal authors who have given an account of the Paulicians are Phot. lib. 
i. contra Manichseos. Petr. Siculus, Hist. Manich, and amoDg modem writers, Bayle. 



204 



HERESIES OF THE KINTH AXD TEI .JURIES. 



A.D. 879. 



Council at 
Constanti- 
nople. 



Another 
Council at 
Constanti- 
nople, A.D. 
842. 



Council at 
Constanti- 
nople under 
the patriarch 
Photius, A.D. 
879. 



The progress 
of image- 
worship in 
the West. 
Claudius 
bishop of 
Turin. 



CONTROVERSY CONCERNING IMAGES. 

After the banishment of the Empress Irene, the contests be- 
tween the Iconoclastae and Iconoduli were renewed ; and during 
the former part of this century the success of the contending 
parties was various and doubtful. The Emperor Xicephorus de- 
prived the favourers of image-worship of the power of persecuting 
their antagonists ; but his successor, Michael Curopalates, espoused 
their cause. On the accession of Leo the Armenian a Council as- 
sembled at Constantinople, a.d. 814, which abolished the decrees 
of the Nicene Council, relating to the use and worship of images ; 
but without enacting any penal laws against then* worshippers. 
Such was the moderation of that Emperor, that he removed the 
patriarch Xicephorus from his office, on account of his violence 
against the Iconoclastce. Michael, surnamed Balbus, and Theo- 
philus were more decided in their hostility against the worship of 
images. 

But when Theodora was intrusted with the regency during the 
minority of her son, the scene was changed. A Council, which she 
was prevailed on to call at Constantinople, restored the decrees of the 
second Xicene Council to their ancient authority. Thus the cause 
of idolatry triumphed throughout the East ; and the Council held 
at Constantinople under the patriarch Photius, which is reckoned 
by the Greeks the eighth General Council, was the consummation 
of the victory. The superstitious Greeks esteemed that Council as 
the effect of a divine interposition, and instituted an anniversary 
in its commemoration, which was called the feast of orthodoxy. 

Notwithstanding the efforts of the Boman pontiffs, image- 
worship was not established in the \Vestern Church without many 
struggles. The Iconoclastae were powerfully supported by Claudius, 
bishop of Turin. That prelate, immediately after his promotion to 
the, episcopal dignity, commanded all images, hi which even the 
cross was included, to be cast out of the churches and committed 
to the flames. He defended his proceedings in a treatise, in which 
he declared against the use as well as the worship of images. He 
maintained his ground against a host of adversaries, and with so 
great ability, that the city of Turin and its diocese, even after his 
death, were comparatively free from the contagion of image- 
worship, which now overspread the rest of Europe. 1 



CONTROVERSY COXCERXIXG THE CORPOREAL PRESENCE IX 

THE EUCHARIST. 

Origin. This controversy, which still divides the Church, and is one of 

the chief marks of distinction between the Bomanists and Beformed, 



1 The principal writer on this subject is Fred. Spanheim, Hist. Imaginum Opera, 
torn. ii. from whom the above account is abridged. 



COEPOEEAL PRESENCE EN" THE EUCHARIST. 205 

had its origin in the ninth century. It arose out of the controversy a.d. 848, 
on image- worship, and was founded on a dogma of the Synod at 
Constantinople held under Copronymus, which a Synod held at 
Nice afterwards expressly contradicted. The distinction was kept 
up by Johannes Damascenus, who maintained that a change took 
place in the symbols of bread and wine in the Eucharist, through 
the intervention of the Holy Spirit. Those who adhered to the 
decision of the Council of Copronymus, were stigmatized by their stercora- 
adversaries as heretics under the name of Stercoranistae. nist ^- 

But in this century, the controversy assumed a more determinate writings of 
shape, in consequence of the writings of Paschasius Eadbert. 1 He f^bS? 118 
composed a treatise, concerning the sacrament of the body and 
blood of Christ, which he afterwards revised, augmented, and 
presented to the Emperor Charles the Bald. The sum of his 
doctrine may be comprised in the following propositions : 1. That 
the substance of the bread and wine after consecration is changed 
into the real body and blood of Christ, the same which was born 
of the Virgin Mary, which suffered on the cross, and rose from the 
sepulchre. 2. That of the bread and wine nothing remains but 
the outward figure under which the body and blood of Christ are 
really and locally present. 3. That all receivers partake of the 
body and blood of Christ, those who receive worthily to their 
benefit, those who receive unworthily to their condemnation. 4. 
That there is a necessity for a daily sacrifice of Christ, because the 
sins of mankind are committed daily. 

These doctrines, and especially that contained in the first pro- 
position, called forth against Eadbert a number of opponents. Two 
of these, Johannes Scotus and Bertramn, were selected by Charles scotus and 
the Bald to draw up a clear exposition of the doctrine which Bertramn. 
Eadbert had so grossly corrupted. The treatise of Scotus has 
perished, that of Bertramn has been preserved, and has been the 
armoury whence the reformers have since taken many of the . 
weapons they employ in their warfare against the errors of the 
Church of Borne. 2 

In this controversy the disputants fell into the two errors com- 
monly incident to polemics ; they expressed their own opinions 
without sufficient perspicuity ; and they charged on each other 
the most absurd and dangerous tenets. Those who embraced the 
system of Eadbert alleged that the doctrine of their opponents 
implied, that the body of Christ was digested in the stomach, and 
was ejected with the other excrements. This consequence was 
readily retorted by the Stercoranistse, who charged their adversaries 

1 The life and writings of this polemic are treated at large by Mabillon, Act. 
Sanctor. Ord. Benedict. 

2 " Bertramn first pulled me by the ear." — Bishop Ridley. An English translation 
of the treatise of Bertramn was published at Dublin, a.d. 1752, with a preliminary 
dissertation. 



206 HERESIES OF THE NINTH AND TENTH CENTURIES. 

A.D. 853. with being Theophagites. The latter accusation, in contradiction 
to Christian charity, has survived the darker ages, and has not 
expired even with the eighteenth century. 

CONTROVERSY CONCERNING PREDESTINATION. 

Origin. The last-mentioned controversy has divided only the reformed 

Churches from the Church of Eome ; but that on predestination 
has divided the reformed Churches among themselves. Its origin 
is universally attributed to Gotteschalc, who had entered against 
his consent into the monastery of Fulda, whence he removed into 
that of Orbais in the diocese of Soissons. He was a devoted 
admirer of St. Augustine, and built his system on the authority of 
that celebrated Father. On his return from a journey to Rome, 
he discoursed largely on the doctrine of predestination in the 
presence of Nothingus, bishop of Verona ; and maintained that 
God, from all eternity, had predestinated some to everlasting life 
and some to everlasting misery. Rabanus Maurus, archbishop of 
Mentz, no sooner heard of these discourses, than he addressed 
letters to the Bishop of Verona charging Gotteschalc with heresy 
The accused monk repaired to Mentz for the purpose of justifying 
himself, but the archbishop summoned a Synod, and formally con- 
demned the predestinarian doctrine. Rabanus pursued his hostility 
against Gotteschalc still further ; he sent the condemned heretic to 
Hincmar, archbishop of Rheims, the city in which he had formerly 
First Synod been admitted to the order of priesthood. Hincmar assembled a 
IS. 05, synod at Quiercy, where Gotteschalc was a second time condemned, 
and experienced the most ignominious treatment. Having been 
degraded from the priesthood, he was flagellated with the greatest 
cruelty, until his constancy was subdued, and he was compelled to 
burn with his own hands the apology for his opinions which he 
had presented to the Synod at Mentz. After these barbarous 
proceedings he was imprisoned in the monastery of Hautvilliers, 
where he soon ended his days, maintaining with his dying breath 
the doctrine for which he had suffered. 

The calamities of Gotteschalc not only excited commiseration, 
but procured converts. Bertramn, the opponent of Radbert, was 
among his warmest advocates. Prudentius, bishop of Troyes, 
Remi, archbishop of Lyons, and others in inferior stations, pleaded 
in behalf of the unfortunate monk, and defended his opinions. On 
the other side were arrayed Johannes Scotus, the coadjutor of 
Bertramn in the controversy concerning the Corporeal Presence, 
Hincmar, who not only exerted his authority, but wielded his pen 
against Gotteschalc, and many others who contended that he had 
at Mercy d no ^ recerve d a punishment exceeding his offences. The spirit of 
a.d. boa. ' discord was raised to so great a degree, that Charles the Bald 
summoned a second Synod at Quiercy, in which the decrees of the 



THE MANNER OF CHKIST's BIRTH. 207 

former Council were confirmed. But a counter Synod assembled a.d. 856. 
two years afterwards at Valence in Dauphiny, composed of the 
clergy of the provinces of Lyons, Yienne, and Aries, with the 
archbishop of Lyons at their head; and in that assembly the 
doctrines of Gotteschalc were cleared from heretical imputation. 
A third Synod, composed of the same clergy, met at Langres ; and 
a fourth at Tousi, in which fourteen bishops supported the doctrine 
of Grotteschalc and Augustine. 

The tenets of Gotteschalc, according to his own public confes- Tenets of 
sion, were these : that there is a twofold predestination, the one of Gotteschalc. 
election to everlasting life, the other of reprobation to eternal 
death ; that God did not will the salvation of all mankind, but of 
the elect only ; that Christ did not suffer death for the whole 
human race, but for that part of it only which God has predes- 
tinated to eternal salvation ; that free will with respect to good is 
destroyed in man by the fall of Adam, and that hence arises the 
necessity of assisting and preventing grace, which is not bestowed 
according to merit. 1 

CONTROVERSY CONCERNING THE WORDS TRINA DEITAS. 

This was a minor dispute between Gotteschalc and Hincmar. 
The latter had prohibited the use of an ancient hymn in which the 
words Trina Deitas occurred, from a persuasion that they tended TrinaDeitas. 
to introduce into the minds of the people notions inconsistent with 
the unity of the Supreme Being. But the Benedictine monks 
refused to obey this mandate, and Bertramn, who belonged to 
their order, wrote a book in defence of the orthodoxy of the 
expressions. Gotteschalc, at that time in prison, entered warmly 
into the dispute, and in an elaborate dissertation supported the 
cause of the Benedictines. Thus Hincmar had an occasion of 
charging his adversary with tritheism ; but the dispute was of 
short duration. The exceptionable passage continued to be used 
in the churches notwithstanding the authority of Hincmar. 

CONTROVERSY CONCERNING THE MANNER OF CHRIST'S BIRTH. 

As the two disputants Hincmar and Gotteschalc had a subor- Mann f 
dinate subject of contention, so also had Eadbert and Bertramn. Christ's 
Eadbert composed a treatise to prove that Christ was born without 1)irth ' 
his mother's womb being opened, in the same manner as he came 
into the chamber in which his disciples were assembled after his 
resurrection when the doors were shut. Bertramn, on the contrary, 
maintained that Christ was born in the same manner as other men, 
and as other women bring forth their offspring. 

1 The principal writers on this controversy are Sismond, Hist. Prasdest. Usserii, 
Hist. Godeschalci. Fabricii, Biblioth. Lat. Med. iEvi, torn. iii. Spanheim, Hist. 
Christ, sax. ix. sec. 10. See also, Hist. Lit. de France, torn. v. p. 352. 



208 



1TEEESIES OF THE XIXTH A>~D TE>"TII CEyirttlES. 



a.d. 878. 

Causes of 
division 
between the 
Greek and 
Latin 
Churches. 



Promotion 
of Photius. 



Council at 
Rome ex- 
communi- 
cates Pho- 
tius. 



Photius 
deposed by 
the Emperor 
Basiiius. 



Eighth (Ecu- 
menical 
Council. 



Photius re- 
instated. 



CONTROVERSIES BETWEEN THE GREEKS AXD LATE 
THE PHOTIAX CONTROVERSY. 

The causes of division between the Greek and Latin Churches 
were numerous, and a spirit of animosity had long prevailed between 
the Bishops of Eome and Constantinople. The Churches were 
divided concerning image-worship, concerning the procession of the 
Holy Ghost, and concerning then rituals and discipline. The con- 
tention of their respective heads concerned power and jurisdiction ; 
and then fury became more than ever vehement in the reign of 
Leo the Isaurian, when the Bishops of Constantinople, supported 
by the Emperor, withdrew several provinces from the authority of 
the Roman pontiffs. In the ninth century then animosity arose 
to an excessive height in consequence of the deposition of the 
patriarch Ignatius, and the promotion of the learned Photius in 
his room. This was the act of the Emperor Michael, and its cause 
was the treason of Ignatius. The proceeding was justified by a 
Council assembled at Constantinople, but it was for from being 
attended with general approbation. Ignatius appealed from that 
Council to the Roman pontiff. Nicholas L. and a Council, which 
assembled in consequence at Rome, excommunicated Photius and 
all his abettors. Photius was so little terrified by this excom- 
munication, that he assembled another Council in the capital 
of the Eastern Empire, a.d. 862, and retorted the anathema on 
Nicholas. 1 

The controversy was attended with civil tumults, until Basil 
the Macedonian, who ascended the imperial throne by the murder 
of his predecessor, recalled Ignatius from exile, and confined 
Photius in a monastery. A Council at Constantinople, a.d. 869. 
with its accustomed versatility, solemnly approved this act of 
authority. In that assembly, the legates of the Roman pontiff. 
Adrian II.. possessed great influence,, and it is acknowledged by 
the Latin Church as the eighth (Ecumenical Council. 

But however favoured by the Roman pontiff, Ignatius refused 
to cede the provinces which had been withdrawn from the jurisdic- 
tion of the see of Rome ; and his death paved the way for the 
re-investment of Photius with the patriarchal dignity, a.d. S7S. 
His restoration was agreed to by the Roman pontiff, John YIIL, 
on condition that he would yield the province of Bulgaria to the 
Romish see. To this demand, Photius gave an explicit consent, 
and the Emperor a seeming acquiescence. But the promise was 



1 This learned patriarch drew up a charge of heresy against the Church of Eome in 
general. It consisted of the following articles : 1. That the Church of Rome kept the 
Sabbath as a fast ; 2. That it permitted milk and cheese in the first week of Lent : 3. 
That it prohibited the marriage of priests: 4. That it confined the rite of anointing 
persons baptized to the bishops alone ; 5. That it had corrupted the Xicene Creed by 
the addition of the words Filioque. This charge was answered by Bertramn, by the 
advice of Nicholas I. 



PHOTIA^ C03TE0YEKSY. 209 

so far from being fulfilled, that the restored patriarch, bj the a.d. 886. 
advice of the Emperor, refused to transfer Bulgaria to the Roman 
pontiff. 

Irritated at this disappointment, John VIII. sent his legate Photius ex- 
Marinus to Constantinople, announcing that he had changed his cated by * 
opinion concerning Photius, whom he regarded as a heretic, and JoM VIIL 
justly excommunicated ; but the minister was imprisoned by order 
of the Emperor. The legate soon obtained his liberation, and 
being raised to the pontificate on the death of John did not forget 
his former injurious treatment ; and a new sentence of excom- 
munication, expressed in terms of the greatest severity, was levelled 
against Photius. 

The haughty patriarch treated the sentence with contempt, and ^° ^ a 
continued in the possession of uncontrolled authority during the second time. 
reign of Basil. But Leo, surnamed the philosopher, the suc- 
cessor of Basil, and the pupil of Photius, deposed him from the 
patriarchal see, and confined him in an Armenian monastery, 
a.d. 886. There he ended his days ; yet although his removal 
might have terminated the schisms between the Greeks and Latins, 
"they were not even partially closed. The Roman pontiffs demanded 
that all the bishops and priests who had been ordained by the 
obnoxious patriarch, should be degraded ; but the Greeks refused 
compliance with such an unreasonable proposition. Hence the 
struggle was continued, and new causes of dissension were added 
to those which already subsisted, till a final separation took place 
between the Eastern and Western churches. 1 

The profound ignorance which prevailed in the tenth century No new sects 

i o i »/ arise in tne 

prevented the rise of heterodox doctrine ; but ancient heresies con- tenth con- 
tinued in their former vigour. That branch of the Manichaeans, ^ ry * 
denominated Paulicians, whose origin has been already related, 
became formidable in Thrace, under the reign of John Zimisces. 
A great part of that sect had been banished thither by the order, 
of Copronymus so early as the seventh century, and they carried 
their turbulence with them. The contests concerning predesti- 
nation and the eucharist, which disturbed the Church in the pre- 
ceding century, were reduced to silence. The followers of Pelagius The state of 
lived in peace with those of Augustine ; so also did those who be- *; 
lieved in the corporeal presence with those who denied it. But the 
calm of the Church was that of stupidity, not of toleration. The 
controversies between the Greek and Latin Churches, though not 
entirely suppressed, were also carried on with less impetuosity 
than before. The Greeks had divisions among themselves, which 
diverted their attention from the causes of dissension with the 
Western Church. 

1 This controversy is related at large by Fabricius, Biblioth. GraBc. torn. iv. c. 38. 
See also Gianone, Hist. Neap. torn. i. 



the elder 
sect. 



( 210 ) 



CHAPTER XIV. 

HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IX THE ELEVENTH AND 

TWELFTH CENTURIES. 



A.D. 1000 

Eleventh 

century, 

called " 

Sceculum 

Hildebran- 

dinum. 

Propagation 
of Christian- 
ity chiefly by 
the Nesto- 



Persecution 
of Christian- 
ity hy the 
Saracens and 
Turks. 



State of 
learning. 



Increase of 
schools. 



The tenth century, as we have before said, has been styled by 
ecclesiastical writers, Sceculum Obscurum; the eleventh has been 
distinguished by the title of Sceculum Hildebrandinum. It is use- 
less to dispute whether a more appropriate title might not have 
been found. 

With the exception of those religious wars called the Crusades, 1 
little was done for the propagation of Christianity among barbarous 
nations, and that little was effected chiefly by the Xestorians. In 
Tartary, taken in its most comprehensive sense, great numbers 
were gained to the profession of Christianity. Metropolitan 
bishops, with suffragans under their jurisdiction, were established 
in the provinces of Casgar, Nuacheta, Turkestan, Genda, and 
Tangul ; and these were governed by the Nestorian patriarch who 
resided in Chalckea. 2 

On the other hand, Christianity suffered from the usurpations 
of the Saracens and Turks. Although they had many wars with 
each other, yet they united in opposing the Christian religion; 
the Turks by cruelty towards their Christian subjects, and the 
Saracens by seducing them to the profession of Mohammedanism. 

Connected with the external state of Christianity, is the state 
of learning ; and the declining condition of the Eastern Empire 
had a fatal influence on science and literature. In the West 
the arts and sciences seemed to revive. Schools flourished in 
Italy during this century, and the Italian literati transplanted 
themselves into France, particularly into Xormandy. The Nor- 
mans also in their turn were instrumental in restoring litera- 
ture in England. William the Conqueror engaged a considerable 
number of learned men from Normandy to settle in his new 
dominions. 

The increase of schools throughout Europe in this century was 
great, and they were supplied with able and eminent masters. In 
the preceding century there were no schools, but those which be- 
longed to monasteries, or episcopal residences, and there were no 
other masters than the Benedictine monks. But in the early part 
of the eleventh century, in many cities of France and Italy, there 
were laics of erudition who devoted themselves to the education of 



1 History of the Ottoman Empire, by Col. Procter, &c. 

2 Kenaudot, Anciennes Relations des Indes et de la Chine. 



THE LEARNING OE THE PEEIOD. 211 

youth. They comprehended in the course of instruction more a.d. 1040 
branches of knowledge than the monastic teachers, and they taught 
in a better method. They had studied in the schools of the Sara- 
cens, and had improved their own stock of learning, by a diligent 
perusal of the works of the Arabian authors. 1 

In the greater part of the schools erected in this century, the 
course of instruction comprehended those which were commonly 
styled the seven Liberal Arts. They consisted of grammar, rhe- 
toric, logic, arithmetic, music, geometry, and astronomy. The 
first three branches were generally known by the name of Trivium; a2S««» 
by which the student was conducted to the last four, or the Quad- 
rivium, this being the summit of literary fame. But the learning 
of the Latins was principally confined to the study of dialectics or 
logic, 2 and the Quadrivium was seldom approached. The books of 
Aristotle had been brought by the Saracens into Spain, and a host 
of learned men arose, whose labours were exclusively devoted to 
the illustration of the works of the Stagyrite. 

The revival of the study of logic was followed by a schism be- No PS ^iSS 
tween its professors, and they were divided into the two sects of 
Nominalists and Realists. The two parties agreed that the ob- 
ject of logic was the consideration of Universals in their various 
relations, but the grand question on which the logicians differed 
was, Whether these Universals were real things or mere denomi- 
nations ? One party maintained, that Universals were Realities, 
and adduced in behalf of their opinion the authority of Plato ; the 
other party affirmed that Universals were mere words, in which 
they were supported by Aristotle. The chief of the sect of Nomi- 
nalists was John, who, on account of his logical subtilty, was sur- 
named the Sophist, but whose history is involved in obscurity ; 
the corypheus of the Realists is not so easily settled, though the 
most considerable of the sect is Rosellinus. 3 

Whatever praise may be awarded to the patrons of literature in Degeneracy 
this century, little of the merit belongs to the sacred order. The ofthecler ^ 
degeneracy of the clergy had now reached its nadir, particularly 
in the Latin Church, and the cause of this decay in piety and 
learning may be found in the augmented power of the Roman 
pontiffs. The five popes who governed the Western Church, at 
the commencement of the eleventh century, were not chargeable 
with those crimes which rendered their successors infamous ; but 
the enormities of Benedict IX., the scandal of the sale of the 
papacy, and the disgraceful spectacle of three simultaneous claim- 
ants of the pontificate, are among the foulest pages of the history 

1 MuratorL Antiq. Ital. torn. iii. p. 985. 

2 Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury, was commonly called the Dialectician ; An- 
selm, his successor, was equally versed in the same science. The dialogue of Anselin, 
De Grammatico, is to be found in his works edited by Gerberon, torn. i. p. 143. 

3 See chap. xvi. 



212 CHRISTIAN CHURCH— ELEVENTH A>~D TWELFTH CEXT. 



A.D. 1058 

Popes- Bene- 
dict IX, Syl- 
vester III.. 
Gregory VI. 



Leo IX., 
a.d. 1048. 
Nicholas IL, 
a.d. 105S. 



Alters the 
manner of 
electing the 
popes. 



of the Romish, see. After the death of Clement II., Benedict IX., 
though twice degraded, forced his way to the papal chair a third 
time, but in the ensuing year was compelled to resign his power 
to Damasus II., the nominee of the Emperor. Damasus lived 
but three and twenty days, and the Emperor appointed Bruno, 
bishop of Toul. This pontiff was known by the name of Leo 
IX., and his virtues have obtained for him a place in the saintly 
calendar. 

The two pontiffs who succeeded Leo may be passed over in 
silence, but Nicholas II. fills a considerable place in the history of 
the popes. As soon as he had obtained undisputed possession of 
his dignity he assembled a Council at Rome, which completely 
altered the ancient mode of electing the bishops of that city. 
Before that time, the popes were chosen not only by the suffrages 
of the cardinals, 1 but by the whole of the Roman clergy, the no- 
bility, the burgesses, and the people. To prevent the tumults in- 
cidental to so popular a mode of election, the Council enacted that 
the cardinals, whether presbyters or bishops, should elect a pope 
whenever a vacancy occurred, though without any prejudice to the 
imperial rights. The consent also of the clergy, burgesses, and 
people was required to complete the election. But as the principal 
influence in the election devolved on the cardinals, it led the way 
to their sole power in this matter, and in the succeeding century 
the right of electing to the apostolic see was altogether transferred 
to their college. 

Although Nicholas had expressly acknowledged and confirmed, 
in the edict of the Roman Council, the right of the Emperor to 
confirm the election of the popes, yet on his death, the Romans, 
by the instigation of Hildebrand, then archdeacon of Rome, pre- 
sumptuously violated this privilege. They elected Anselm, bishop 
of Lucca, who assumed the title of Alexander II. , without consult- 
ing the Emperor. Agnes, the mother of the young Emperor 
Henry IV., no sooner received an account of this transaction, 
than she assembled a Council at Basil, and, in order to maintain 
the authority of her son, as yet a minor, she elevated Cadolaus, 



1 Cardinals, according to their original institution, were priests or deacons, placed 
in cathedrals or large churches, in opposition to those who were attached to small 
churches or chapels. In former times, the title was by no means confined to the 
priests and deacons of the Church of Rome, nor to the secular clergy : but it was in 
use in all the Latin Churches, and assumed by abbots, canons, and monks. The edict 
of Nicholas II. divides into tvro classes the cardinals who were to have the right of 
suffrage in the election of a pope, viz. Cardinal Bishops and Cardinal Clerks. By the 
former are meant seven bishops who belonged to the city and territory of Rome ; the 
Cardinal Clerks comprehended the priests and deacons. The name, origin, and rights 
of cardinals are enumerated by Fabricius, Biblio. Antiqua. p. 456. But there are 
two Dissertations which deserve particular notice : one is by Muratori, entitled De 
Origin e Cardinalatus, Antiq. Ital. Medii JEvi, torn. v. p. 156. The other is that of 
Fred. Spanheim, entitled Cardinalitire Dignitatis atoiie Auctoritatis si. Sseculo natalis, 
Hist. Christ, sasc. si. sec. 6 L 



raiYEBSAL EMPIEE AIMED AT BY THE POPE. 213 

bishop of Parma, to the pontificate, by the title of Honorius II. ad. 1073 
But in this contest the imperial candidate was defeated, and al- 
though he never would resign his pretensions, Alexander II. was 
generally acknowledged as the lawful pope. 

'The contest was carried on with a far greater degree of violence, Hildebrand, 
when Hildebrand himself succeeded Alexander. This extraordinary vil, a.d. 
man was a Tuscan, of humble parentage, 1 and educated in the 10 '°" 
monastery of Ciugni. By various gradations he rose to the 
dignity of chancellor of the Church of Borne, and in that station 
governed the Roman pontiffs from the time of Leo IX. On the 
same day hi which Alexander was interred, he was raised to the 
pontificate by the unanimous suffrages of the cardinals, bishops, 
abbots, monks, and people; this unanimity was obtained by 
bribing such as could be corrupted, and by poisoning such as could 
not be bribed. The election was confirmed by Henry IV., king of 
the Romans, to whom ambassadors had been sent announcing the 
choice of the clergy and the people. 

Too soon did the Emperor perceive that, by consenting to the Aims at 
election of Hildebrand, who assumed the title of Gregory VIL, he empire!* 
had raised up a powerful rival not only to his own authority, but 
to the independence of all temporal sovereignty. Seated in the 
apostolic chair, Gregory aimed at universal empire, and the project 
which his ambition formed, his dexterity fitted him to execute. 
He first denounced the terrors of excommunication against lay Denounces _ 
investitures, though he had received the confirmation of his own cation munl " 
election from the Emperor. He laboured to dissolve the juiisdic- jJ^£S l % 
tion of temporal princes over the clergy, and to exclude them 
from all share in the management or distribution of ecclesiastical 
revenues. But not satisfied with exempting the clergy from 
secular authority, he attempted to render ail secular princes 
tributary to the see of Rome. Whatever temporal privileges were His conduct 
enjoyed by the popes, were derived from the princes of France, but-prancef 
Gregory pretended that their kingdom was tributary to the see of 
Rome, and commanded his legates solemnly to demand the pay- 
mect of an annual tribute. To William the Conqueror he addressed England. 
an epistle, demanding the arrears of Peter-pence, 2 and homage for 
his new dominions as a fief of the Apostolic see. In both these 
cases he was repulsed ; in France the tribute was neither paid nor 
even acknowledged ; in England, the payment was rendered as an 
ancient custom, but the homage was nobly refused. 3 

1 Fabri ferrarii films. Pusio a dime in officina patris, literas nesciens, casu formavit 
ex ligni segmentis hoc dictum Davidis; Dominabitur a man usque ad mare. Cave. 
Hist. Lit. p. 151. 

2 Peter-pence were so called, because they were collected on the festival of St. 
Peter in "Vineulis. They formed a tax of a penny on each house, first granted by 
Ina, king of the West Saxons, for the support of an English college at Rome. 

s The letter of William is to be found in Colliers Eccles. Hist, of Great Britain, 
vol. i. Appendix. 



214 CKEISTIA]S T CHTKCH — ELEVENTH AXD TWELPTn CENT. 



a.d. 1076 

Saxony. 
Spain. 



Hungary and 
Denmark. 



Russia. 



Dalmatia 
and 



Poland. 



Assumes a 
power over 

bishops. 



Difference 
between the 
investiture 
of bishops 
and of nobles 
and knights. 



Among the less powerful states of Europe the claims of Gregory 
were received with acquiescence. He pretended that Saxony was a 
feudal tenure held in subjection to the see of Borne, to which it 
had been formerly yielded by Charlemagne. He maintained that 
the kingdom of Spain was the property of the Apostolic see from 
the earliest period of Christianity, although the records were lost. 1 
He wrote circular letters to the most powerful of the Germanic 
princes, to Grusa, king of Hungary, and to Sweyn, king of Den- 
mark, recommending them to make a solemn grant of then* king- 
doms to the prince of the apostles, and to hold them under the 
jurisdiction of the successor of St. Peter. The son of Demetrius, 
king of the Russians, in obedience to an epistle of Gregory, set out 
for Borne, in order to obtain as a gift from St. Peter, his heredi- 
tary dominions. Suinimer, duke of Dalmatia, was raised to the 
kingly rank by the legate of Gregory, on condition that he paid 
an annual tribute of two hundred pieces of gold, at every festival 
of Easter. Basil II. having assassinated the bishop of Cracow, 
was excommunicated by Gregory, his subjects were absolved from 
their allegiance, and an edict was issued, prohibiting the nobles and 
clergy of Poland from electing a new king without the consent of 
the Soman pontiff. 2 

The zeal and activity of Gregory were employed with great 
success in enriching the patrimony of St. Peter, and in extending 
the papal dominions. The splendid inheritance which the Church 
derived from the Countess Matilda was warmly contested at this 
time, and was not preserved entire, but a considerable portion still 
remains to the ecclesiastical state. A similar power to that which 
Gregory arrogated over temporal kingdoms and their sovereigns, 
was assumed by him over the spiritual governors of the Church. 
In order to correct the evil of simony, which had become one of 
the reigning vices among the European clergy, the pontiff not 
only excommunicated those who were guilty of it, but pronounced 
an anathema against any one who received the investiture of a 
bishopric or abbacy from the hands of a layman, as well as against 
those bv whom the investiture was granted. The investiture of 
bishops and abbots, so far as it regarded an oath of allegiance, and 
the performance of homage to temporal princes, was of ancient 
date, and was a mode of receiving property similar to that prac- 
tised by the lay feudatories ; but the custom of investing bishops 
and abbots with the ring and crosier, the ensigns of the sacred 



1 Ep. lib. x. 7. Eegnum Hispanise ab antiquo proprii juris S. Petri fuisse, et soli 
Apostolicae sedi ex aequo pertinere. 

2 Numerous are the historians, civil and ecclesiastical, who have written on the 
life and exploits of Gregory. Of the ecclesiastical historians it is enough to mention 
Sagittarius, Introduc. ad. Hist. Eccl. torn. i. who has furnished a catalogue of these 
writers. Spanheim has a chapter entitled Hildebrandi Historia et Dogmata, Hist. 
Christ. sa?e. xi. ch. v. 



INCREASE OE MONACHISM. 215 

function, differed from ordinary feudal habits, and was not sup- a.d. 1090 
ported by any long prescription. 1 

By the law which Gregory enacted against investitures, 2 he 
raised a formidable opponent against himself in the Emperor 
Henry IV. Their struggle and its consequences occasioned much 
distress in the Church and in the State, dividing both into factions, 
each furious for the success of its own schemes, and anxious for its 
own aggrandizement. 

Commensurate with the increase of the papal power in this increase of 
century, was the increase of Monachism, for the Western monks Monachlsm - 
were remarkable for their attachment to the Roman pontiffs. 
Gregory, intent on reducing the privileges and independence of 
the bishops, exhorted the monks to withdraw themselves and their 
possessions from episcopal jurisdiction, and to place both under the 
dominion of St. Peter. The policy of Gregory was adopted by 
Urban II., and a considerable portion of the monasteries received 
immunities both from the temporal authority of their sovereigns, 
and from the spiritual jurisdiction of their bishops. 

Of all the religious orders the monks of Clugni made the most ^ Ionks of 
rapid advances to opulence and dominion. Towards the conclusion 
of this century, they were formed into a separate society, and no 
sooner were they established, than they extended their authority 
on all sides, reducing under their jurisdiction all the monasteries 
which had adopted their discipline. Hugo, the sixth abbot of 
Clugni, was not only in high credit at the court of Eome, but was 
patronized by several princes, and he availed himself of his repu- 
tation and influence to extend the privileges of his order. This 
celebrated monastic was the acknowledged head of thirty-two of 
the principal religious houses in France, and many other societies, 
which although they declined to form a union with the Clugniac 
order, regarded the arch-abbot of Clugni, as he styled himself, as 
their spiritual chief. 

The example of the Clugniac monks excited several pious men 
to erect similar fraternities, and the consequence was, that the 
Benedictine Order, which had been hitherto an universal and united 
body, was divided. To division in discipline succeeded hatred and 
hostility. 

The principal of these ramifications from the Benedictine Order Branches of 
were, 1. The congregation of the Camaldolites founded by Romuald, tine Order. 
an Italian fanatic, whose followers were subdivided into two classes, 
the Cenobites and the Eremites. 2. The followers of Gualbert, a 
native of Florence, settled at Yalhambrosa, in the Apennines. 3. 
The Cistertians, founded by Eobert, abbot of Molema, in Burgundy. 

Besides those convents which were founded on the principles of 

1 The history of Investitures has been written with grreat learning by Cardinal Xorris. 

2 See infra, 219. 



216 CHRISTIAN CHURCH — ELEVENTH A^D TWELITII CE>"T. 



General 
remarks, 



A.D. 1100 the Benedictine Order, several other monastic societies were formed, 
distinguished by a peculiar code of discipline. The most remark- 
able of these were, 1. The Order of Grandmontains, founded by 
Stephen de Muret. 2. The Order of Carthusians, whose founder 
was Bruno, a native of Cologne, and a canon of the cathedral of 
Rheims in France. 3. The Order of St. Anthony of Yienne in 
Dauphine, instituted for the relief and support of such as were 
afflicted with grievous disorders, and particularly with the malady 
called St. Anthony's fire. 

A more copious account of these societies will be given with 
greater propriety and fulness in a separate dissertation on the Rise 
and Progress of Monachism. What has been now said is intended 
to show how closely connected with the rise and progress of the 
papal power these orders were, and how much they contributed to 
advance and confirm it. 1 

The twelfth century may be considered as forming one of those 
cardinal eras from which we date the commencement of a new 
aspect or phasis in the revolutions of human affairs. The darkness 
which, since the irruption of the barbarians into the Western 
Empire, had, during four or five centuries, been continually thicken- 
ing over the nations of Europe, seems at length to have passed its 
culminating point ; and henceforth we may easily observe the 
gradual and unintermitted progress of returning day. The first 
dawn indeed of this revival was perceptible in the immediately 
preceding century. During the earlier part of that period a servile 
mediocrity of mind was the great stigma of the age. In the latter 
portion men became less dependent in soul, and in the twelfth 
century intellectual activit}^ and enterprising thought began to 
develop and manifest themselves. Letters were as yet cultivated 
by few beyond the pale of the Church ; but a visible improvement 
had already taken place in the schools of France and Italy. 
These were no longer confined to the walls of monasteries ; 
seminaries of general learning were opened in many of the 
principal cities of those countries ; and science, such as it was, 
was now taught in a better method and on more enlarged prin- 
ciples by professors both lay and ecclesiastical ; several of whom 
had accomplished their course of study in Spain under the Arabian 
masters, at that time the chief depositories of profane or philoso- 
phical learning. 2 Lathi translations had been early made of the 
principal treatises of the ' Saracenic doctors.' It was, hi fact, by 
this circuitous route that the Western world again obtained access 
to the mathematical, medical, and astronomical writings of the 
ancient Greeks and to those of Aristotle himself; the second pub- 
lication, so to call it, of whose works may be said in a short time 

1 See chap, xviii. 

2 This was the case with the professors whose precepts gave such celebrity to the 
medical school of Salerno. See Muratori, Antiq. Ital. torn. iii. p. 395. 



Improved 
state and 
means of 
learning. 



IMPKOVED STATE OP THE CHTJECB". 217 

to have produced an entire revolution in the studies of the age ; a jd. 1135 
and during several successive centuries continued to exercise a 
most remarkable influence upon all the researches and operations 
of the human intellect. 

In no department of general study was the effect of this change 2E52SS 11 
more immediatelv or more powerfully felt than in the schools of xh ? divinity 
divinity. At the beginning of the last century the public lec- 
turers upon that science had, for the most part, contented them- 
selves with retailing to then hearers the explanations and illustra- 
tions of the holy text which were to be found in the writings of 
the fathers ; without attempting to give either order or consis- 
tency to then glosses upon Scripture ; much less to work them up 
into anything like a regular body of divinity. But before the end 
of the same century this method had given place to one of a much 
more ambitious character ; l the mysteries of religion were now 
not stated merely as articles of faith, but it was endeavoured to 
examine and explain them upon the principles of the dialectic 
science which had become so fashionable ; the doctrines of religion 
were expounded with all the formalities of scientific distribution; and 
the foundation was thus laid for that scheme of scholastic divinity 
which, in its various ramifications, occupies so large a portion of 
the literary and theological history of the succeeding centuries. 

A fresh impulse was in this way given to the human mind, Learning en- 
which began to devote itself to the acquisition of knowledge with tn^Churcii. 
a zeal and avidity proportioned to its long privation of that its 
natural aliment. The Church, and more particularly the papal 
court, was foremost in encouraging and rewarding this new ardour 
of study ; and as yet no apprehensions were entertained that 
either the doctrines of the one or the pretensions of the other were 
likely eventually to suffer from that vivacity of research which 
they were thus promoting. Of the colleges or learned societies 
which were now established for the dissemination of knowledge in 
the principal cities of Europe, that of Paris had become particu- Universities 
larly conspicuous, as well by the number and ability of its various Bologna, 
professors as by the great concourse of students who crowded thi- 
ther from all parts to imbibe science under their tuition. 2 Of the 
other schools of France, Angers became famous for the study of 
law, and Montpellier for that of medicine. 3 In Italy the celebrated ^^ 
academy of Salerno was wholly devoted to this last profession, canon law 
while Bologna took the lead almost of every other European semi- 
nary in the profession of jurisprudence ; 4 a study the revival of 
which is generally ascribed to the discovery of the Pandects of 
Justinian, when Amalfi was captured by the Pisans in 1135. 
Bologna also became equally distinguished for its teachers of 

1 See De Boulay, Historia Academ. Paris, torn. i. 

2 Histoire Litteraire de la France, torn. ix. p. 65. 

3 De Boulay, torn. ii. p. 215. 4 Muratori, Antiq. Ital. torn, in, p. 890. 



218 CHEISTIA]* CHrECH — ELEVENTH AND TWELFTH CENT. 



Account of 
the papal 
succession. 



a.d. 1140 canon law. To that branch of academical learning:, likewise, some- 
thing of method and system had been given by the famous ' Epi- 
tome,' or ' Decretals,' which Gratian, a monk of Bologna, had 
drawn up about the year 1130 1 from the pontifical archives ; and 
which continued, down to a very recent period, to be the standard 
text-book of the study in most of the universities of catholic 
Europe. The work, indeed, became early a great favourite with 
the Roman pontiffs, whose pretensions it supported throughout 
and to their utmost extent, and often, as might be expected, by 
a considerable falsification of documentary evidence. 

We have seen in what manner the spirit of papal ambition, 
after the more gradual encroachments of preceding pontiffs, had 
almost attained the fullest accomplishment of its purposes, from 
the bold, active, and undaunted genius of Gregory VII. ; insomuch 
as, at the commencement of the present century, almost every 
ecclesiastical affair, down to the most minute, was brought more 
or less immediately within the jurisdiction of the papal court. 
Hence it is that the civil and external History of the Church at 
this period is almost entirely included in that of the see of Rome. 
On this account, therefore, and also as affording the best and most 
obvious principle of perspicuity and order in our summaries, we 
shall make the succession of pontiffs the groundwork of that 
general view of ecclesiastical events which it is our business to 
exhibit. 

Urban II. died in July 1099. He was succeeded by the Cardinal 
Rainer, by birth a Tuscan, a man of virtue and ability, whose talents 
and character had early attracted the favour of Pope Gregory VII. 
He had scarcely assumed the tiara, under the name of Paschal II., 
a.d. 1099, when Rome and all Christendom were gladdened by the 
tidings of the reduction of Jerusalem, which was taken by assault, 
on the 15th of July, by the crusading armies under Godfrey of 
Bouillon. Shortly after the commencement of his pontificate, the 
Anti-pope Guibert, who had been chosen by the imperial party, 
and supported by their intrigues and power, since the time of 
Gregory VII., died in Calabria ; and, although three successive 
candidates were within a twelvemonth brought forward by the im- 
perialists to supply his place, their pretensions were almost imme- 
diately suppressed by the vigorous measures adopted by Paschal, 
and they themselves were driven into obscurity. 
Account of As the dispute concerning the right of investiture was that which 
and^rigin of chiefly contributed to disturb the peace of the Church, and indeed 
the dispute f Christendom, during the present century, it may be right before 
investitures, we proceed farther to give a somewhat fuller account of the nature 



Paschal II. 



1 Under the title of Concordia Discordantium Canomim, a name which sufficiently 
indicates the nature and object of the book. Gratian is said to have employed no less 
than twenty-four years in its composition. 



DISPUTE EESPECTI3"a LNTESTITUBE. 219 

and origin of it 1 than we have before had an opportunity of doing, a.d. 1140 
The controversy itself naturally resulted from the political circum- 
stances in which at this period the clergy found themselves placed. 
From the earliest period of her establishment, the Church had 
jealously excluded the civil power from any right of direct inter- 
ference in the nomination to ecclesiastical dignities ; and so long 
as these involved only a jurisdiction, the State was not indisposed 
to acquiesce, in appearance at least, in the exclusion. But when, 
by the successive and constantly accumulating endowments of 
princes and nobles, the higher orders of the clergy became pos- 
sessed of fiefs and territories involving large wealth and consider- 
able secular influence, the feudal superior began to claim an interest 
in the disposal of these benefices, grounded upon the equally un- 
questioned jurisdiction which belonged to him, over all the terri- 
tories subjected to his authority ; and thus it was that a field was 
opened for perpetually recurring conflicts between the ecclesiastical 
and civil powers of the community. 

The term Investiture itself, implies the grant, or more strictly. Ceremony of 

investiture 

perhaps, the mode of granting, of any state, fief, dignity, or privi- 
lege by the king to his subjects, or a chief to his vassal, on the 
necessary conditions of fealty, homage, and feudal service ; a cere- 
mony which was usually performed by bestowing upon the person 
so favoured some material mark, as the token of his investiture. 
This, in the case of a territory or estate, was often a piece of turf, 
or bough of a tree ; while in the instance of a place of trust or 
dignity, some characteristic part of the dress, or ensign of the 
office, was chosen as the distinguishing symbol. When the bishops 
and abbots of the Church became possessors of territorial revenues 
and jurisdictions, they were of course, as such, subjected to the 
same rules which applied to all lay holders of rights or property ; 
and were not considered as legally possessing those properties, 
until they had formally done homage for the same before their 
superior, and received from his hand, in return for their oath of 
allegiance, the appropriate symbol of the legal transfer of them. 
What was the ceremony at first used in the investiture of eccle- 
siastical dignitaries seems not altogether ascertained. Probably 
it varied in different places, or according to the fashion of the time, 
or the fancy of individuals. We read that the Emperor Henry II. 
bestowed the bishopric of Paderborn upon Meinvercus, by the token 
of presenting him with a glove ; and there is reason to believe that 
in the first instance, neither the ring, nor the crosier, nor any other 
emblem peculiarly characteristic of the spiritual privileges of the 
bishop, was employed, to signify the execution of a transfer, which 
professedly referred only to the conveyance of secular jurisdiction. 

1 Much valuable information on this subject is to be derived from Cardinal Norris's 
History of Investitures. 



220 CHRISTIAN CErtJECH ELEVENTH" AFD TWELPTII CENT. 



Abuse of the 
power of in- 
vestiture by 
laymen. 



Investiture 
by ring and 
crosier. 



a.d. 1140 The right of interference thus exercised by laymen in the pro- 
motion to ecclesiastical dignities was, therefore, one only of sanction, 
and not of direct nomination ; yet, as might have been foreseen, it 
soon tended practically to resolve itself into the same thing, and 
as such, became early, and naturally, a subject of jealousy and op- 
position on the part of the Church. These feelings waxed stronger 
when the laity, in the exercise of their privilege, prostituted it, as 
they soon did, to purposes of the most flagrant and shameless 
simony. With the view of eluding this abuse, 1 the clergy in 
many instances upon the death of a bishop or abbot, after electing 
a successor, proceeded immediately to his consecration; of which 
ceremony the delivery of the ring and crosier, as the ensigns of 
episcopal function, was an essential part. By this proceeding, the 
interference of the feudal superior was at once excluded, since, after 
consecration, the election became irrevocable. The secular power, 
however, soon took an effectual method to obviate this stratagem; 
by ordaining, that immediately upon the death of a bishop, those 
ensigns of his function should be taken possession of by the au- 
thorities of the episcopal city, and forthwith transmitted to the 
keeping of the prince ; who thus retained in his hands an effective 
control over the election of the clergy. It was by the delivery of 
the ring and crosier to the favoured candidate, that the sovereign, 
in effect, designated the new bishop, who proceeded to place these 
badges of his dignity in the hands of his metropolitan, from whom 
he as;ain received them, in the final ceremony of consecration. 

We see, then, that the whole controversy upon this subject was 
the natural consequence of the compound character which the 
higher clergy at this time began to assume : as being not merely 
the spiritual pastors, but, in many instances, the territorial lords 
of their people ; and of the difficulty in reconciling the claims 
which either party might justly prefer, to interpose in the elections 
in question. That the prince should claim a right of interfering 
in the disposal of dignities which, in fact, conveyed to the persons 
holding them large temporal wealth and power, was natural and 
indeed necessary. At the same time it was impossible but that the 
clergy should be in the highest degree jealous of the exercise of 
the prerogative which was thence usurped by laymen to confer 
absolutely and arbitrarily all the spiritual offices of the Church ; 
especially when they saw the privilege abused, as it was sure to 
be, in the hands of the lay superior, to purposes of the most sordid 
and profligate selfishness. But although the Church, and particu- 
larly the Roman pontiffs, had long entertained these feelings, it 
was Gregory VII. who first gave vent to them, by openly attack- 



Measures 

taken by 
Gregory VTI. 



1 A very clear and satisfactory statement of the facts of this part of the subject is 
to be found in Mosheim, (Eccles. Hist. vol. ii. p. 290, Machine's translation,) to- 
gether with ample references to original authorities. 



DISPUTE RESPECTING IXTESTITTJEE. 221 

ing the practice itself. This he did in the bold and uncompromising A.D. 1140 
spirit which usually distinguished his proceedings. He at once, 
and absolutely, prohibited all investitures of benefices whatever, and 
even it is said forbade bishops to take oaths or homage of fealty to 
their princes ; claiming to himself as the universal bishop and 
head of the Church their undivided faith and allegiance. 1 Some 
writers, however, deny that Hildebrand did in fact carry his auda- 
city to this extent ; but it is certain that his successor (the next 
but one) Urban II. did not hesitate to do so ; for we find the investiture 
latter, in the Council of Clermont, expressly including in his ana- c J Ser g for- 
thema not merely the act of investiture by a layman, but even the ^ d p n jjjLj 
oath of fealty on the part of the bishop to the prince ; an extre- of Clermont. 
mity of pretension so obviously unreasonable in itself, that we 
cannot but suspect it to have been put forward by the pontiffs not 
so much in the hope of actually obtaining that extent of immu- 
nity, as with the purpose of preferring a claim, the subsequent 
concession of which might the better enable them to compromise 
for the abandonment, on the part of the secular power, of its in- 
terference in respect to investitures. 

A more rational and better founded objection on the part of the 
clergy, was that which referred to the mode of investiture exercised 
by princes, by personally conferring the crosier and the ring, which 
were peculiarly and exclusively symbolical of the spiritual authority 
exercised by the bishops. It does not appear that this was made 
matter of especial controversy till the time of Paschal II., who, in 
the conference which he held with the Emperor's deputies at Cha- 
lons in 1107, more particularly insisted upon the abandonment of 
this ceremony, as implying pretensions on the part of the State 
altogether inadmissible. 

This subject was the occasion of numerous controversies and 
wars between the Popes Gregory, Urban, Paschal, and Calixtus, 
and the Emperors Henry TV. and Y. We can merely allude to 
some of the principal results of those transactions. By the treaty Treaty be- 
which Paschal, under the compulsion of personal captivity, was C nai it and 
compelled to sign with Henry Y. at Eome in April x.d. 1111, the ggJJ?^™ 
humbled pontiff consented to an entire abandonment of his oppo- 
sition to the right, as claimed by the Emperor, of investiture by 
the ring and crosier. 2 This treaty, however, extorted by violence, 

1 See Dupin, Ecclesiastical History, vol. x. p. 32. See also Mosheim, Ec. Hist. vol. ii. 

2 The following are the terms of the treaty : — After certain preliminary expressions 
of attachment and gratitude on the part of the pontiff towards the Emperor, the 
former goes on to say, "We, therefore, grant to yon that prerogative which our pre- 
decessors have granted to yours, namely, that you invest the bishops and abbots of 
your kingdom with the staff and ring, provided they shall have been elected freely 
and without simony, and that they be consecrated, after you shall have invested them, 
by the bishops whose province it is. If any shall be chosen by the people and the 
clergy without your approbation, let him not be consecrated till vou have invested 
him." See Bower, Hist, of the Popes, vol. v. p. 391. 



222 cheistia^ ciruEcn — eleventh and TwiLriu cent. 



A.D. 1140 



Annulled by 
the Lateran 
Council. 



Final adjust- 
ment of the 
quarrel. 



State of the 
question as 
respected 
France and 
England. 



was immediately and loudly exclaimed against by the clergy 
throughout Italy and Germany ; and in the following year. \ 
solemnly annulled in a Council held in the church of the Lateran. \ 
It was not till the year a.d. 1122 that a new and more satisfactory 
settlement of the dispute was arranged at Worms between the 
Emperor and the legate of Pope Calixtus II. By this it was 
agreed, "that for the future all bishops and abbots should be 
chosen by those to whom the right of election belongs, i.e., by 
the canons and monks of their respective chapters and communi- 
ties, but that the election should take place in the presence of the 
Emperor, or of an ambassador appointed by him for that purpose ; 
that any dispute arising among the electors should be decided by 
the Emperor ; that the bishop or abbot elect should take an oath 
of allegiance to the Emperor, and do homage to him for the tem- 
poralities {regalia) which he should receive from his hands ; which, 
however, were to be conferred by the Emperor, not by the crosier 
and ring, (the badges of spiritual function) but by the sceptre, as 
the more appropriate symbol of investiture into rights and privi- 
leges hi themselves merely temporal. This concordat was soon 
after solemnly confirmed by the General Council 2 which was sum- 
moned to meet in the Lateran in the year following. 

The subject of investitures had never been the occasion of any 
contests between the popes and the crown of France. The right 
was one which had always been enjoyed by the French kings, un- 
disturbed even by a papal remonstrance ; though they early de- 
sisted from exercising it by the obnoxious emblems of the crosier 
and rinsf, contenting" themselves with siomifvins: the collation to 
benefices in their dominions by verbal or written declarations. In 
England, as we have seen, it formed a principal point of the quarrel 
between William Eufus and Archbishop Anselm ; and such was 
the violence with which that brutal prince enforced his pretensions, 
that Anselm found it prudent to leave the kingdom and take refuge 
in France. On the death of Eufus, Henry L, his successor, anxious 
to conciliate as far as possible the suffrage of the clergy to his 
usurpation of a crown which of right belonged to his elder brother 
Eobert, recalled Anselm, and re-instated him in the primacy. The 
Archbishop returned, but when required, after the example of his 
predecessors, to do homage for his see, he positively refused ; 3 and 
the king, unwilling at that critical juncture of his affairs to come 
to an open breach with the refractory primate, consented to refer 
the matter to Eome. The answer returned by that court may 
readily be guessed ; it fully approved and confirmed the refusal of 
Anselm, The King, however, still insisted on his rights, but re- 
luctant to push things to extremities, he suggested that Anselm 
himself should proceed to Eome to take the opinion of the sove- 



1 Concil. torn. x. p. 767. 2 Ibid, torn, x, p. 894. 3 See Eadmer, Hist. lib. iii. 



THE A-BECKET COXTEOYERSY. 223 

reign pontiff; 1 more, it is believed, as a pretext for getting rid of A.D. 1164 
the presence of the obnoxious Churchman than from any hope of 
benefit to be derived from the employment of his services in the 
negotiation. The result of this second appeal was such as must 
have been foreseen, and neither party being willing to recede from 
their pretensions, Anselm remained abroad till a. d. 1107 ; 2 when Final settie- 
the inconveniences resulting both to the Church and the crown Sspute^tk 
from the continuance of this state of affairs becoming daily more Anselm. 
aggravated, a sort of compromise of the conflicting claims took 
place ; the right of investiture on the part of the crown was aban- 
doned by the prince ; and, on the other hand, the bishops were 
allowed to do homage for then temporal properties and privileges ; 
and by this means, the sovereign retained an indirect control over 
the elections of the bishops, at the same time that he forebore the 
invidious exercise of anything like immediate nomination. 

A still more memorable controversy between the English crown Controversy 
and the Church took place in the course of the present century ; a-Becket, 
►but the story of Thomas a-Becket forms so remarkable a chapter ca C ntSiiry° f 
in the civil history of the age, and as such is so familiar to the 
general reader, 3 that we shall not in this place dwell upon the 
details of it. It will be sufficient to our present purpose to 
state shortly the original grounds and final issue of the quarrel. 
Henry II., a bold, able, and politic prince, had early felt the 
embarrassments and dangers resulting to the royal authority from 
the late encroachments of the Church, and, accordingly, made it 
one of his first objects to take measures for reducing her preten- 
sions within stricter and more definite limits. With this view he 
summoned a great Council of his nobles and clergy at Clarendon 4 SSh^SSl 
(January, a.d. 1164), when a body of constitutions, sixteen hi 
number, was unanimously voted, by which the privileges and im- 
munities of the Church were restrained and defined ; the clergy 
themselves were effectually brought under the jurisdiction of the 
civil courts ; and the right of the crown to interfere in the election 
to any vacant dignity in the hierarchy was clearly and fully pro- 
vided for. These laws were unanimously agreed to by the Council, 
the Primate Becket himself, though with the utmost reluctance, 
having been induced by his brethren to sign them ; but when sent 
to the Pope (Alexander III.) for ratification, they were by him at 
once and indignantly rejected. Upon this Becket immediately 
retracted his assent, and imposed on himself the severest penance 
for the weakness by which he had been betrayed into giving it. 
Henry, enraged in the highest degree at this conduct on the part 

1 See Eadmer, Hist. lib. iii. 

2 Ibid. See also Collier, Ecclesiastical History, vol. i. p. 292. 

3 See, in particular, Hume, of the early part of whose work the story of Becket 
forms one of the most interesting and spirited passages. 

4 See Collier, Ecclesiastical Histoiy, vol. i. in which these constitutions are given at 
length. 



224 CHEISTIAjS" CHUECH — ELEVENTH and twelfth cent. 

A.d. 1170 of a subject whom he had loaded with obligations, and whom, in 
fact, he had elevated to his present station in the confident expec- 
tation that he would co-operate in those very measures which he 
was now so effectually thwarting, availed himself of every means, 
whether legal or otherwise, of humbling and annoying the pri- 
ofxhomas mate, insomuch that at length he was driven to take refuge on the 
the conti- t0 con ^ men ^- There, supported by the King of France and by the 
nent. pope, who had invested him with a legatine commission over 

England, he launched a sentence of excommunication against all 
those ministers, whether laymen or clergy, who had been instru- 
mental in furthering the king's designs ; levelling at the same 
time a similar censure against Henry himself, and which he sus- 
pended only to give the monarch time for repentance. Henry, 
after in vain endeavouring to bend the purpose of his refractory 
subject, was at length driven, by the difficulties of his situation, 
to consent to a compromise. In return for the absolution of his 
ministers from the excommunication under which they lay, Becket 
and his adherents were, without further submissions on their part, 
restored to the full possession of their benefices ; and it was at the 
same time agreed that all the questions which had given rise to 
these disputes should be buried in oblivion. Becket, however, was 
so little disposed to act in the spirit of this last provision of the 
His return treaty, that his first act after his return was to publish a sentence 
and ultimate °f suspension or excommunication against the Archbishop of York 
assassina- an( j sucn prelates or officers as had been concerned in the corona- 
tion of the King's son, Prince Henry ; a ceremony which had 
taken place during his absence, but the solemnization of which he 
claimed as the exclusive privilege of the see of Canterbury. The 
anger of the King at this new instance of turbulence on the part 
of Becket, and the manner in which the unguarded expression of 
his feelings led to the assassination of the Archbishop (December 
29, 1170), are well known to every reader. In the accommoda- 
tion which Henry was subsequently, 1172, so happy to conclude 
with the court of Rome, he contrived, after making every personal 
atonement for the crime of which he had been the involuntary 
occasion, substantially to save all the material prerogatives which 
had been established by the constitutions of Clarendon, with the 
exception of the prohibition of appeals to Eome ; a privilege, the 
abuse of which, however, was in a great degree provided against 
by the clause which gave the King the power of exacting from all 
such appellants a sufficient security that they should not attempt 
anything inconsistent with the rights of his crown. 1 

To return to the succession of the popes in this century. Pas- 
chal II. died in the very height of the contest with the Emperor, 
in January, a.d. 1118 ; but his death, instead of tending to appease 

1 See Collier, Ecclesiastical History, vol. i. p. 379. 



TEMP0BAL AUTHOEITT OF THE POPES THBE ATE^ED . 225 

the heats which his measures had so materially inflamed, only occa- a.d. 1145 
sioned a new schism. Six days after his decease John of Caieta 
was elected pope hy the cardinals under the name of Gelasius II. PopeGeia- 
The election, however, was violently opposed by the imperial party, 
under Cenci of Frangipani, who caused Burdinus, archbishop of Antipope 
Braga, in Portugal, to be proclaimed pope, taking the name of urdlims - 
Gregory VIII. After some scenes of mutual violence, Gelasius 
was compelled to take refuge in France, where he died in the 
Abbey of Clugny, on the 29th of January following, designating as 
his successor Guy, archbishop of Vienne ; a choice which was im- 
mediately sanctioned by the cardinals at Eome and at Clugny. The 
new pontiff, who assumed the name of Calixtus II., a.d. 1119, was CaUxtnsiL 
the son of William, count of Burgundy, and nearly related to the 
Emperor and to the King of France ; and the ability, courage, and 
moderation which he displayed did equal honour to his exalted 
birth and station. He soon made himself master of Rome, drove 
out with ignominy his competitor Burdinus, and, as we have seen, 
brought the existing contest with the Emperors to a successful 
adjustment by the treaty of Worms. He died, after a short reign, 
in a.d. 1124. His successor was Lambert, bishop of Ostia, who 
took the name of Honorius II., and owed his election chiefly to Honoring n. 
the management of the imperial party, but subsequently contrived 
to conciliate the suffrages of the cardinals also. Upon his death, 
in 1130, Gregory, cardinal of St. Angelo, was elected, a.d. 1130, 
under the name of Innocent II., by one party of the cardinals, at innocent il 
the same time that another faction in the college chose Peter of 
Leon, who assumed the papal title under the name of Anacletus. Antipope 
The latter had the stronger party at Eome, and his competitor AnacletIls - 
was obliged to fly to France, although his title was acknowledged 
by all the princes of Europe except the kings of Sicily and Scot- 
land. Upon one occasion the Emperor Lothaire established him 
by force in the Vatican ; but he was almost immediately driven . 
out again by Anacletus, who maintained his ground till his death, 
which happened in 1138. This, in effect, put an end to the schism, 
in spite of a feeble effort on the part of his friends to continue it 
by another election ; and Innocent returned to Rome, where, in 
the next year, he presided at the second Council of Lateran. He 
died in a.d. 1143. Celestine IL, his successor, filled the see but a ceiestine n 
few months. On his decease, the choice of the cardinals fell on 
Gerard, who took the name of Lucius IL, a.d. 1144, whose short Lnciusii. 
and stormy pontificate was terminated, in 1145, by his death, 
occasioned by the blow of a stone which he received while endea- 
vouring to repress a tumult among the people. A party had at 
this time been formed in Rome to restore the power of the senate 
by reducing, or even wholly taking away, the temporal authority 
of the pontiff. It was this faction which gave so much trouble to 
Lucius, and which continued, under the famous Arnold of Brescia, 

Q 



226 CHEISTIAN CHUBCH — ELEVENTH AND TWELFTH CENT. 



A.D. 1198 



Eugenius 
III. 



Anastasius 
IV. 



Adrian IV 



Alexander 
III. 



Antipopes. 



Change in 
the mode of 
papal elec- 
tions. 



Lucius III. 



Urban III. 
Gregory 
VIII. 

Clement III. 
C destine III. 



Innocent III. 



to embarrass the government throughout the whole pontificate of 
his successor, Bernard of Pisa (a scholar of the distinguished saint 
and doctor of the same name, and who, on his election, a.d. 1145, 
took the title of Eugenius III.), insomuch that he was repeatedly 
obliged to flee the city, in order to avoid their violence. He died 
in a.d. 1153. His successor, Anastasius IV., survived his election 
little more than a year ; and in December, 1154, was succeeded by 
Nicholas Breakspeare, an Englishman, the only one of that nation 
who ever attained the papacy, and who took the name of Adrian IV., 
a.d. 1154. Many disputes ensued between this pontiff and the 
Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. They were, however, cut short by 
the death of Adrian in a.d. 1159 ; when, however, a new source of 
trouble was opened to the Church in the schism that broke out 
respecting the election of his successor. Alexander III. was sup- 
ported by the people of Rome and by the Kings of France and 
England. He was, however, for many years kept out of his see 
by the violence of the Emperor, who declared for his competitor 
Victor, and afterwards for Paschal and Calixtus, who, on the de- 
cease of Victor, were successively elected by the same party in his 
room. Alexander, however, eventually triumphed over his com- 
petitors and the Emperor himself, and after a reign of unusual 
length and almost incessant turmoil, died in August, 1181, in full 
and peaceable possession of his see. The troubles so continually 
occasioned by disputed elections, of which he had himself so pain- 
fully experienced the effects, suggested the decree which at his 
proposal was sanctioned in a.d. 1179 by the third Lateran Coun- 
cil ; and by which the nomination of his successors was vested in 
the College of Cardinals alone, the suffrages of a majority of two- 
thirds of the Sacred College being declared necessary for the suc- 
cessful candidate. 1 

But this regulation, however salutary, was far from being popu- 
lar with the Roman clergy and people, who were thus excluded 
from their former share in the election of the supreme pontiff. 
Lucius III., the successor of Alexander, who was chosen by the 
suffrages of the College alone, a.d. 1181, was repeatedly driven 
from the city by the disaffected populace, and died at Verona in 
a.d. 1185. Of the succeeding pontiffs, Urban, Gregory VIII. , 
a.d. 1187, Clement III., a.d. 1188, and Celestine III., a.d. 1191, 
little remarkable is recorded. Celestine died in 1198, and was suc- 
ceeded by Lotharius, count of Segni, who took the name of Inno- 
cent III., a.d. 1198. His pontificate is one of the most memorable 
in papal annals, but the record of it belongs to the history of the 
following century. 

Such was the succession of the Roman pontiffs in the present 
century, during the whole of which, their power, notwithstanding 



1 Concil. torn. 



x. p. 



160; 



SOYEBEIGNTT OF THE POPES ESTABLISHED. 227 

occasional checks and humiliations, may be considered as being A.D. 1198 

substantially and gradually on the increase. 1 If we view the fact 

in a purely religious light, the success of their pretensions, founded 

as they were on wholly false assumptions and the most obvious 

perversions of scriptural authority, must no doubt be considered as 

among the grossest corruptions of Christian truth. Otherwise it 

is not so clear but that, in an age of barbarism like that of which 

we are treating, this or any other power which could successfully 

appeal from the violence of brute force to something like opinion 

was productive of political advantages to the people which more 

than counterbalanced the evils of its abuse. 

The same remark is in like manner applicable to another of the 
abuses to which the prevailing corruption of religious truth gave 
rise ; we mean the monastic institutions. However mistaken 
might be the devotion which either founded or filled these com- 
munities, they cannot be denied to have afforded, in the darkness 
and lawlessness of the times, not only the best nurseries for liter- 
ary and theological learning, but almost the only asylums which 
then existed against rapine and the violence of power. In the course increase of 
of the present century both the number and wealth of these estab- orders. gKm 
lishments were greatly increased, and several new orders were added. 
That of the Cistercians, 2 a.d. 1098, under the auspices and guidance The Cister= 
of St. Bernard, spread itself rapidly throughout Europe, and almost ciaDS ' 
immediately took that place in public respect and reverence which 
the order of Clugny had hitherto occupied, but which it had thus 
early began to forfeit by the indolence and dissoluteness of its 
members. A new congregation was added to the order of regular 
canons by Norbert, a German nobleman, who had embraced a reli- 
gious life, and who became afterwards Bishop of Magdeburg. In 
the year a.d. 1120 he established the order of Premontre (so Order of 
called from the place of its foundation in Pieardy), which in a few 

1 Before the close of the century they had effectually established their authority 
as sovereigns in the city of Rome, as well as their independence of the Emperor ; and 
the weight of their power and influence in matters secular as well as ecclesiastical was 
felt throughout Europe. Most of the Councils which took place were convoked either 
by them immediately or by their legates, and the decision of these assemblies was com- 
monly the result of their dictation. By the encouragement given to appeals to Rome 
almost every matter of ecclesiastical resort was brought immediately within their juris- 
diction. Indeed the inconveniences resulting from this practice were so strongly and 
early felt that St. Bernard warmly exclaimed against it ; and accordingly, in the third 
Lateran Council, it was attempted to give some check to the abuse by the Sixth Canon, 
which annulled all appeals entered before the sentence was pronounced, as well as 
those which were not prosecuted within a limited time. See Dupin, vol. x. p. 208. 

2 Founded in the year 1098 at Citeaux, in the diocese of Chalons, by Robert, abbot 
of Molesme in Burgundy. The rule was that of St. Benedict, but loaded with many 
additional austerities, the observance of which, though strictly adhered to under 
Harding and Bernard, became gradually relaxed as the wealth of the community 
increased. It is said that, within the first century after its foundation, this order 
could number not less than eighteen hundred abbeys, its offshoots in different parts of 
Europe. See Fabricius, Biblioth. Lat. Medii iEvi,*tom. i. for a list of the numerous 
historians of the order. 



228 CHRISTIAN CHUECH — ELEVENTH AND TWELFTH CENT. 

a.d. 1198 years attained to enormous wealth, and extended itself to almost 
every part of Europe. Its rule, with some slight alterations, was 
the same with that of St. Augustine. The celebrated orders of 
G rd nd S m f nt Grandmont, founded by Stephen of Muret, of Fontevrauld, by 
andFon- Eobert of Arbrisselles, and that of the Carmelites, which it is 
Carmelites, affirmed originated from an assemblage of hermits on Mount Car- 
mel, whom the patriarch of Antioch, about the time of the first 
Crusade, had formed into a sort of community — took their rise 
soon after the beginning of the present century. 1 
Military ^ jfa e same period we must refer the original establishment of 

Knights of the Military orders, which in the first instance were subjected to 
Inights' the ru ^ e °f St. Augustine, modified, of course, in some degree, by 
Templars. {^ peculiar object of their institution. Of these the most ancient 
order. is that of the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem, who 

were established in the first instance for the reception and care of 
the pilgrims visiting the holy city. The object of the institution 
of the order of Templars was to act in a military capacity for the 
protection of the same class of travellers. The foundation of the 
Teutonic order, which originally combined the accomplishment of 
both these services, took place somewhat later. 2 
Doctrine of Neither the doctrine nor the discipline of the Church during the 
in tins cen- present century presents any very remarkable novelty. The doc- 
tury ' trine of the corporeal presence in the Eucharist, as it is at present 

held by the Roman Church, was by this time very generally re- 
Transubstan- ceived ; and the term transubstantiation, by which it is endea- 
tiation. voured to express, or rather to designate that extraordinary tenet, 
was for the first time brought into use. Many, however, still 
adhered to the opinions of Berenger upon that mysterious subject. 
We may observe that the early, and indeed apostolical practice of 
giving the communion in both kinds to the laity, continued through- 
out the present century ; though in some places the method was 
adopted of soaking the bread in the wine, previous to its delivery 
to the communicant. 

The morals and conduct of the clergy were upon the whole in a 
course of amendment, a natural result of the progressive civilization 
and instruction of the age. 
Practice of It was in this century that the odious practice of granting in- 
mdiiigence?. ^ulgences, ]^j w hi c h the penances imposed for the commission of 
sins were commuted for a sum of money paid to the Church, may 
be said to have taken its rise. One effect of this abuse was almost 
wholly to abolish the wholesome usage, so early established in the 
Church, of public acts of penitence. The profits of this traffic were 
in all instances confined to the bishops ; but they soon became so 

1 See Dupin, Ecclesiastical History, vol. x. p. 218 ; also chap, xviii. infra, 

2 See Helyot, Histoire des Ordres Monastiques, Religieux et Militaires ; a work of 
great fulness and accuracy of research, for a complete account of the origin, nature, 
and progress of these several institutions. 



THE THEEE LATEKAN COUNCILS. 229 

large, as to attract the cupidity of the pope, who soon preferred a a.d. 1198 
claim of exclusive monopoly in the issue of these indulgences, and 
subsequently, in the natural progress of their impious presumption, 
extended the application of them to the remission, not merely of 
all penalties pronounced upon sin by the Church on earth, but even 
those which were to be dealt upon iniquity by the sentence of our 
heavenly Judge hereafter. It was to give some colour to this ab- 
surd and impious assumption on the part of the pontiffs, that the 
doctrine of works of supererogation was invented, by which it was Doctrine of 
supposed that the saints had been enabled to perform a multitude pererogation 
of pious works beyond those necessary to their own salvation ; all invented. 
which formed a treasure in the hands of the Church, and were by 
her applicable to the relief of sinners, upon such terms and condi- 
tions as she might please to impose. 1 

Another source of revenue to the clergy was now found in the Aims for 
permission given to priests to receive alms for the performance of masRe!5, 
masses, but they were as yet forbidden to exact them. 

We have already adverted to the increase which took place in 
the number and riches of the monastic societies during this cen- 
tury. The multiplication of these institutions was from the be- 
ginning studiously favoured by the popes, who sought to attach 
the members to the interests of the Eoman see, by exempting 
them as much as possible from the jurisdiction of the ordinaries. 
An attempt was made in the third Later an Council to limit the 
abuses arising from the privileges obtained by the monks, and they 
were strictly forbidden the administration of the sacraments ; but 
these, like the other equally wholesome reformations enjoined by 
that Synod, were for the most part evaded in practice ; and this 
the more easily, as the abuse was one which the court of Eome 
found its interest in encouraging. 

We cannot take a better opportunity than this to give some 
account of the Councils held in the twelfth century. 

Of these, there were three called General Councils ; although 
since the separation of the Greek Church that term is no longer 
applicable in the (Ecumenical sense in which it was given to the 
earlier Synods of the Catholic Church. The three assemblies in 
question were all convened at Rome in the Lateran Church, from 
which circumstance they take their name ; and they consisted 
wholly of Western bishops. The first of them, as we have before First Lateran 
mentioned, was summoned by Pope Calixtus III., in March, ouncn * 
a.d. 3123, for the purpose of sanctioning the treaty concluded 
with the Emperor respecting the right of investitures. Besides the 
arrangement of this matter, the Council took this opportunity of 
pubhshing twenty -two canons, upon matters chiefly relating to the 
rights and discipline of the clergy. Of these the most material 

1 See Mosheim, EccL Hist. vol. ii. p. 421, and the authorities there cited by him. 



230 CHRISTIAN CHUECH — ELEVENTH A3TC> TWELFTH CENT. 

a.d. 1198 are the 3d, which renews the prohibition of marriage to the 
clergy ; and the 20th, which is the first canon which not merely 
forbids all such marriages, but declares them null and void when 
made. 1 

second La- The second Lateran Council was convened by Pope Innocent 

ciL ' " II., in April, a.d. 1139, and consisted, it is said, of above a thousand 
prelates. Thirty canons were the result of their deliberations, 
which refer almost wholly to matters of discipline and internal 
regulation ; and are often merely repetitions of those published by 
the former Council. 2 

^CounciJ ^ ie ^^ General Lateran Council met in a.d. 1179, under 
Pope Alexander III. Its principal object was to take measures 
for reforming sundry crying abuses which had crept into the 
Church ; and in the canons which it established for this view, it 
is impossible to mistake the operation of a real anxiety for the 
effective amendment of the Church. Twenty-seven capitularies, 
or articles of canons, were decreed by this Council. The first of 
these is one to which we had occasion to allude before, by which 
it was declared that the votes of two-thirds of the cardinals were 
necessary for the election of the pope. Some of the others are 
worthy of notice, both as illustrating the manners and position of 
the clergy, as well as the kinds of abuse which then prevailed in 
the Church. Thus by the fourth constitution, the number of 
horses which prelates may maintain for then- visitations is limited, 
in the cases of archbishops to forty or fifty, and about half that 
• number to cardinals or bishops. By the loth it was declared that 
the estates and monies which clergymen had saved out of their 
benefices should fall to the churches to which they belong, not- 
withstanding any testamentary disposition on their part to the 
contrary. The 13th and 14th strictly prohibit the holding of a 
plurality either of prebends or benefices by the same individual. 
The 18th orders the settlement in every cathedral church of a 
schoolmaster for the instruction of youth, with the allotment of 
a benefice of sufficient revenue for his maintenance. The 19$h 
prohibits, under anathema, the imposition, on the part of the 
secular power, of any taxes upon churches or ecclesiastical persons ; 
unless in cases in which the bishops and the rest of the clergy, in 
consideration of the exigencies of the State, have previously con- 
sented to the same. 3 

The last canon of this Council was directed against the Wal- 
denses, Albigenses, and other heretics of the times, of whom a 
brief account will be given in a subsequent chapter. 4 

1 ConciL torn. x. p. 291. 2 Ibid, p. 1102. 3 Ibid, p. 1517. * chap. xvi. 



( 231 ) 



CHAPTER XV. 

ECCLESIASTICAL WRITERS OF THE ELEVENTH AND T\YELFTH 

CENTURIES. 



ELEVENTH CENTURY. 



Theophanes Ceramius. 
nllus doxipatriiis. 
Nicetas Pectoratds. 
Michael Psellus. 
Michael Cerclarius. 
Johannes Xiphillnus. 
Theophylact. 



Fulbert. 

Humbert. 

Petrus D ami anus. 

Berenger. 

Lanfranc. 

Hildebert. 

Gregory VII. 



twelfth century. 



Peter Chrysolanus. 
eustratius. 

euthymius zygabenus. 
Philip the Solitary. 
Michael Glycas. 
constantius harmenopulus. 
Joannes Cinnamus. 
Joannes Zonaras. 
Theodore Balsamon. 
Michael Anchialus. 
Hugo Etherianus. 
Theorianus. 
Bernard of Clairval. 
Peter Abelard. 
Gilbert de la Porree. 



Ivo, Bishop of Chartres. 
Geoffrey of Angers. 
John of Salisbury. 
Peter of Celles. 
Peter of Blois. 
Peter Comestor. 
Peter of Clugny. 
Honorius of Autun. 
Rupert of Duytz. 
Hugh of St. Victor. 
Richard of St. Victor. 
Peter Lombard. 
Robert Pullens. 
St. Anselm. 



THEOPHANES CERAMIUS,i 
fl. circ. a.d. 1040, 

was bishop of Tauromenium in Sicily, and the author of sixty-two a.d. 1040 
' Homilies on the Gospels appointed for Sundays and Festivals. Works. 
They were published with Prolegomena and Notes, Greek and 
Latin, fol. Paris, 1644. He likewise wrote two i Homilies for the 
Sunday before the Exaltation of the Cross,' published in a collec- 
tion of tracts 'De Cruce' by Gretser, torn. ii. p. 1207. These 
homilies possess the merit of a perspicuous style and a rational 
mode of scriptural interpretation. 

Cave, < Hist. Lit/ torn. ii. p. 132 ; Fabric. < Biblioth. Gnee.' 



i The Potter. 



cal know 
le<lge 



232 ECCLESIASTICAL WEITEES — ELEVENTH AND TWELFTH CENT. 

NILUS DOXIPATRIUS. 

FL. A.D. 1043. 

A.}). 1050. I* i s uncertain when this pillar of the Greek Chnrch was born. 

Ecciesiasti- He is chiefly remarkable for his knowledge relating to matters of 
ecclesiastical polity ; and at the request of Roger, king of Sicily, 
he composed a small tract entitled ' De Majorum Patriarcharum 
Sedibus.' This tract was afterwards enlarged. Copious extracts 
from it have been given by Leo Allatius, ' De Concord. Eccl. 
Orient, et Occident. ;' and it has been published entire by Stephen 
Le Moyne, in his work ' Varior. Sacr.' torn. i. p. 211, 
Cave, ' Hist. Lit.' torn. ii. p. 133. 

NICETAS PECTORATUS. 

FL. CIRC. A.D. 1050. 

This formidable opponent of the Latin Church was a monk and 
a presbyter of Constantinople. His principal work is entitled 
' Liber adversus Latinos de Azymis, de Sabbatorum Jejuniis, et 
Nuptiis Sacerdotum.' It has been edited by Canisius and Baronius. 

Cave, 'Hist. Lit.' torn. ii. p. 136. 

MICHAEL PSELLUS, 

FL. A.D. 1050, 

descended from an ancient and noble family at Constantinople, was 
raised to the highest offices of the State ; but in this place he is to 
attainments ^ e n0 ^ e( ^ on ty f° r n ^ s proficiency in literature. That proficiency 
was such as to obtain the highest encomiums from his contempo- 
raries and the important trust of preceptor to the Emperor Michael 
Ducas. From the splendour of a court Psellus retired to the 
obscurity of a monastery. His writings were numerous and on 
various subjects, viz., philosophy, mathematics, medicine, history, 
and theology. 

Cave, 'Hist. Lit.' torn. ii. p. 136; Spanheim, ' Hist. Christ.' 
ssec. xi. sec. 11. 

MICHAEL CERULARIUS. 

FL. CIRC. A.D. 1051. 

Like Nicetas, this author is chiefly known for his hostility to 
the Latin Church. He was patriarch of Constantinople, and con- 
sequently a natural enemy of the Roman pontiff. A quarrel be- 
tween Humbert and Michael was carried on with unexampled 
bitterness. The works of this author relate to the matters of con- 
troversy between the Eastern and Western Churches. 

Cave, 'Hist. Lit.' torn. ii. p. 133. 



JOHAM-ES XIPHILINTJS — THEOPHTLACT, ETC. 233 



JOHANNES XIPHILINUS, 

OB. A.D. 1078, 

was patriarch of Constantinople under the Emperors Constantine a.d. 1070 
and Michael Ducas. Although he took an active part in the con- 
troversy with the Latin Church, yet his works are not altogether 
controversial. He was the author of ' Homilies on the Gospels/ 
and made an ' Epitome of the History of Dion Cassius.' 

Cave, ' Hist. Lit.' torn. ii. p. 147 ; Spanheim, ' Hist. Christ.' 
saec. xi. sec. 11. 

THEOPHYLACT. 

FL. A.D. 1077. 

A native of Constantinople and primate of Bulgaria. His 
' Commentaries ' on the sacred writings were received with univer- 
sal approbation and esteem. They were edited, Lat. Paris, 1554 ; 
Basil, 1570. 

Cave, 'Hist. Lit.' torn. ii. p. 153; Spanheim, 'Hist. Christ. 5 
saec. xi. sec. 11. 

FULBERT. 

OB. A.D. 1028. 

At the head of the catalogue of Latin writers in this century, 
is placed Fulbert, bishop of Chartres. He has obtained a certain 
degree of reputation for his love of letters, and his zeal for the 
education of youth, but his notoriety rests on his extravagant and 
enthusiastic attachment to the Virgin Mary. He not only built a 
splendid church dedicated to her at Chartres, but composed several 
hymns in her praise. The works of this bishop were collected by 
Charles Yilliers, and published at Paris, 1608. 

'Hist. Lit. de France,' torn. vii. p. 261; Cave, 'Hist. Lit.' 
torn. ii. p. 125. 

HUMBERT. 

OB. POST A.D. 1064. 

This celebrated cardinal was the corypheus of the Latin Church, in 
the grand controversy between the Eastern and Western Churches. 
He was alike distinguished for his vehemence and his learning. 
His works consist chiefly of tracts against Michael Cerularius, 
and they have been collected in ' Biblioth. Patrum,' torn, xviii. 

'Hist. Lit. de France,' torn. vii. p. 527 ; Cave, 'Hist. Lit.' torn, 
ii. p. 139. 

PETRUS DAMIANUS. 

OB. A.D. 1072. 

This truly learned man, according to the custom of his age, 
received a monastic education, and was abbot of the monastery at 
Avellino. He was promoted by Stephen to the rank of a cardinal, 



234 ECCLESIASTICAL WRITERS — ELEVENTH A>~D TWELETH CENT. 

a.d. 1080 and to the bishopric of Ostia, against his inclination. He was 
employed on various embassies relative to ecclesiastical affairs, in 
which he acquitted himself with great credit. His works are 
numerous, and have been collected in three volumes folio. Rome, 
1606, 1608, 1615. 

Dupin, ' Eccl. Hist.' torn. ix. p. 83; Cave, ' Hist. Lit.' torn. 
ii. p. 140. 



Berenger 
maintains 
the doctrine 
ofScotus'con- 
ceming the 
Eucharist. 
a.d. 1045. 



It is con- 
demned by a 
Council at 
Rome, at 
Vercelli and 
at Paris, 
a.d. 1050. 



Victor II. 
institutes a 
new exami- 
nation of the 
Berengerian 
doctrines, 
a.d. 1054. 

Berenger 
abjures his 
opinions; but 
afterwards 
teaches 
them. 



BERENGER. 

OB. A.D. 1088. 

With the life of this eminent theologian is connected the his- 
tory of the controversy concerning the corporeal presence. Ber- 
enger was a native of France, principal of the public school at 
Tours, and afterwards archdeacon of Angers. He possessed an 
acute and subtle genius, and was renowned both on account of his 
extensive learning and the exemplary sanctity of his life. 

In the preceding century the controversy concerning the cor- 
poreal presence was carried on with the greatest freedom, since no 
Council had given a definite sentence on this point, so as to restrain 
discussion and debate. In this spirit, Berenger publicly maintained 
the doctrine of Johannes Scotus and Bertramn, in opposition to 
that of Paschasius Radbert — that the bread and wine in the 
Eucharist are not changed into the body and blood of Christ, but 
were no more than their figures and external svmbols. The doc- 
trine of Berenger was no sooner published than it was opposed by 
certain doctors in France and G-ermany ; and Leo IX. attacked it 
with the weapons of pontifical power. In two different Councils, 
one of which met at Rome, and the other at Vercelli, the doctrine 
of Berenger was solemnly condemned, and the book of Scotus, 
whence it was drawn, publicly burned. The example of the pon- 
tiff was followed by Henry I., and in a Council summoned at Paris, 
an anathema was denounced against Berenger and his adherents. 
Berenger was deprived of his revenues, and degraded. 

Temporal punishments might have shaken the constancy of 
Berenger, and induced him to retract his opinions ; but he was 
still permitted to enjoy them in the privacy which he sought. On 
the death of Leo IX. an active persecution against him began, for 
Victor II. undertook to institute a more severe examination of the 
Berengerian doctrine. He sent his legates to two different Coun- 
cils assembled at Tours for this purpose. In one of these Councils 
the famous Hildebrand appeared in the legatine character, and 
opposed Berenger with his wonted violence. Berenger also was 
present ; and overpowered by threats rather than convinced by 
argument, he not only abandoned, but, it is said, solemnly abjured 
his opinions, and thus was reconciled to the Church. The abjur- 
ation was soon proved to be an act of fear, not of sincerity, for 



BEEENGEE. 235 

he continued to teach, although with more circumspection, the a.d. 1080 
opinions for which he had been censured. 

When the account of Berenger' s perfidy was brought to Nicholas ^jJSjJ^ 11 
II., the exasperated pontiff summoned him to a Council at Rome, him to Rome, 
Berenger was again terrified with threats of punishment, and de- A,D ' 
clared his readiness to subscribe such doctrines as the Council might 
think fit to decree. Humbert was accordingly appointed to draw 
up a Confession of Faith for Berenger, who signed it, and confirmed He signs a 
his adherence to his subscription by a solemn oath. The Con- Faith drawn 
fession contained the following declaration : — that the bread and JPjy Hum - 
wine, after consecration, are not only a sacrament, but the real v 

body and blood of Jesus Christ, and that this body and blood are 
handled by the priests, and partaken by the people, not in a sacra- 
mental sense, but really and sensibly. 

That the second abjuration of Berenger was equally extorted ^ a a |^ n 
and insincere with the first, too soon appeared, for when he re- 
turned to France, he expressed his utmost detestation of the Con- 
fession which he had subscribed at Rome. Alexander II., the Alexander 
successor of Nicholas, employed expostulation and influence to yours in vain 
induce him to return from his apostacy, but as he was power- iSni! claim 
fully supported, and at a distance from Rome, he was deaf to 
the remonstrances of the pontiff. Hence the controversy was 
prolonged during many years, and the followers of Berenger largely 
increased. 

When the chief antagonist of Berenger was elevated to the Gregory vil 

summons 

papal chair, it might be supposed that he would not neglect a Mm to Rome, 
controversy in which he had been so actively engaged. Yet Gregory 
VII. displayed a different spirit, as a moderator, from that which 
he had shown as a disputant. He discovered an impartiality and 
candour which his proceedings on other occasions, and his former 
course in this very dispute, gave little reason to expect. He ap- 
pears to have entertained a high personal esteem for Berenger, 
notwithstanding their difference of opinion. He sent an order to Council at 
him to repair to Rome, and in a Council which met there, he per- a-iTiots. 
mitted his old antagonist to restate the opinions which had been 
embodied by Humbert in a Confession of Faith . Berenger, there- Berenger 
fore, made a second declaration confirmed by an oath, that he would declaration. 
adhere to the following propositions : — that the bread laid upon 
the altar becomes, after consecration, the true body of Christ, which 
was born of the Virgin, suffered on the cross, and now sits on the 
right hand of the Father ; and that the wine placed upon the altar 
becomes, after consecration, the true blood which flowed from the 
side of Christ. 

Although this declaration satisfied Gregory, yet it did not satisfy J^^ 8 ^ 8 
the enemies of Berenger ; they contended that it was ambiguous, but not Ma 
and they required that he should be obliged to sign another, ex- opponents - 
pressed in clearer terms. They added another demand, that he 



236 ECCLESIASTICAL WEITEES — ELEVENTH AND TWELFTH CENT. 



A.D. 1080 



A more de- 
finite form 
prepared. 

He signs a 
liird Confes- 
on of Faith. 



A.gain re- 
tracts. 



Lenity of 
Gregory to- 
wards him. 



His retire- 
ment to the 
Isle of St. 
Cosme. 



His death, 
a.d. 1088. 



His works. 



should be obliged to prove his sincerity by undergoing the ordeal 
of fire. Gregory absolutely refused this last demand, and would 
have refused the first, if he had followed his own judgment But 
the importunate clamours of the enemies of Berenger prevailed 
upon the pontiff to yield, and a new declaration, or third Con- 
fession of Faith, was framed. This took a middle course between 
the first and second, and Berenger, in a Council at Rome, once 
more performed the ceremony of subscribing, and of confirming 
his subscription by an oath. By this assent, he professed to be- 
lieve — that the bread and wine, by consecration, were substantially 
changed into the true, proper, and vivifying body and blood of 
Jesus Christ. 

No sooner had Berenger made this declaration, than he was dis- 
missed by the pontiff with the most honourable testimonies of 
liberality and friendship. But scarcely had he quitted Borne be- 
fore he publicly retracted the declaration which he had subscribed 
before the Council, and even wrote an elaborate confutation of the 
doctrines contained in that declaration. The Council importuned 
Gregory to promulgate ecclesiastical censures against the relapsed 
heretic, but the pontiff seemed neither surprised nor offended at 
his inconsistency and tergiversation. Berenger had sufficient pru- 
dence not to return any answer to the bitter invectives of his ad- 
versaries, and tired with polemics, he withdrew from public life. 
He fixed his abode in the Isle of St. Cosme, in the neighbourhood 
of Tours, where he passed several years in fasting, prayer, and de- 
votion. His retirement was embittered by a retrospect of his past 
conduct, and he submitted to a severe course of penance, with a 
hope of expiating the guilt of his repeated perjuries. The memory 
of his failings was obliterated in the minds of his numerous follow- 
ers, 1 and they retained only the deep impression of his extraordinary 
sanctity. The canons of the cathedral of Tours long continued to 
honour his name by a procession to the Isle of St. Cosme, where 
they performed a solemn service at his tomb. 

Of his works there are extant some ' Epistles ;' three ' Formu- 
laries' of his belief concerning the Eucharist ; 'Disputation' with 
Lanfranc ' on the Corporeal Presence ;' a ' Commentary on the 
Apocalypse ;' and several minor tracts. 

'Life of Berenger' in the works of Hildebert, archdeacon of 
Mons ; c Hist. Lit. de France,' torn. viii. p. 197 ; Spanheim, ' Hist. 
Christ.' saec. xi. sec. 8 ; Cave, ' Hist. Lit.' torn. ii. p. 130. 



1 His disciple and biographer, Hildebert, honoured his memory by an epitaph, of 
which the following lines are the conclusion :— 

Vir vere sapiens, et parte beatus ab omni ; 
Qui cselos anima, corpore ditat humum. 
Post obitum vivam tecum, tecum requiescam : 
Nee fiat melior sors mea, sorte sua. 



LACTRAKC. 237 

LANFRAN"C. 

OB. A.D. 1088. 

This antagonist of Berenger was an Italian by birth, and re- a.d. 1080 
ceived his education in his native country ; but in early youth he 
transplanted himself into Normandy. He embraced a monastic life, ^ °duca- 
but quitted it in consequence of having obtained the favour of Duke tion. 
William. When this prince made his successful descent on Eng- ^JSffi" 
land, Lanfranc accompanied him, and was the prime adviser of the the Con- 
Conqueror in ecclesiastical affairs. Before a year had expired from Engknd 
the commencement of the Norman dynasty, there was not an in- 
dividual remaining in any high station in the Church who was 
hostile to it ; and Stigand having rendered himself particularly 
obnoxious, was deposed. William had no hesitation in conferring 
the vacant primacy on Lanfranc. 

The election and consecration of this Italian to the see of Can- ****® A * ch ' 
terbury, were both remarkable and solemn. He was first chosen Canterbury, 
by the Church of Canterbury, and after this capitular election, the A,3> ' 10 ' 0, 
choice was ratified by the clergy and nobility at the royal court. 
He was then consecrated at the metropolitical church, at which His election 
ceremony all the bishops of England attended in person, or if ab- eration re- 
sent excused themselves by letters. Being thus possessed of the markaWe - 
highest dignity in the English Church, he wrote a letter to the 
pope complaining of the arduous burthen which his office imposed 
on him, and preferred to his sovereign a request which he knew 
would be refused, of being permitted to retire to a monastery. 

The English bishops cheerfully recognized his authority, with dispute 
the exception of Thomas the archbishop of York, who made an Archbishop 
ineffectual struggle for independence, if not for precedency. The con^emin^ 
quarrel between the two archbishops was compromised for a time, precedence. 
and they set out together for Eome, accompanied by Eemigius, 
bishop of Lincoln. Lanfranc was received with the highest marks 
of respect ; but the two other prelates, though their first reception " 
was civil, were deposed on account of some canonical objections. 
Lanfranc, it is said, made use of his interest in their favour, and 
having thus obtained a claim on their gratitude, he endeavoured 
to get the pope to decide the controversy concerning the canonical 
obedience due from the see of York to Canterbury. The pontiff 
prudently declined to interfere, and it was referred to the judgment 
of the King of England. On a full hearing of the matter in the Dispute 
presence of most of the bishops and abbots, it was determined that settled by 
the primacy was rightly vested in the see of Canterbury ; that the Council 
archbishops of York should be obliged to make a profession of 
canonical obedience to it at their consecration ; that on the death 
of an archbishop of Canterbury, the archbishop of York should 
repair to that city, and in conjunction with the bishops of the 
province should assist at the consecration of the new archbishop. 



238 ECCLESIASTICAL WRITERS — ELEVENTH A>~D TWELFTH CENT. 

a.d. 1080 The archbishop of York was still to retain his title of metropolitan, 
but he and his suffragans were obliged to attend the Synods con- 
vened by the archbishop of Canterbury, and to be governed by 
his directions. 

The dispute being thus ended, Lanfranc's first epistles to the 
pope were replete with adulation, and he at first joined the pope 
in a design of dispossessing the cathedral monks and placing secular 
canons in their room. Yet he soon altered his policy, and took 
Lwifranc part with the King against the usurpations of the see of Rome. 
withthe When Rildebrand ascended the papal chair, he relied on the con- 
the pope amSt cur rence and co-operation of Lanfranc in his ambitious designs. 
He sent a confidential messenger to the English primate, notify- 
ing his accession to the popedom, and communicating some secret 
counsels. He urged his former friend to come to Rome, but Lan- 
franc would not leave England ; and when solicitation was changed 
into the language of command, the Archbishop not only refused 
to go, but accompanied the refusal with a denial of the papal 
authority. 
Refuses to When William nobly refused to render fealty to the see of 

Rome. Rome, Gregory, supposing that his repulse was in a great measure 

owing to the advice of Lanfranc, again issued a peremptory man- 
date, summoning the Archbishop to his capital. But the English 
primate steadily resisted the Roman pontiff, answering that his 
sovereign would not permit him to leave England, and that it was 
against the laws of the country for any subject to depart the king- 
dom without the royal permission. 
Promotes the Throughout the reign of William, Lanfranc co-operated in the 
William designs of his master, and appears to have been equally careful of 
Rums, ftie dignity of the crown and the rights of the English Church. 

As soon as the Conqueror perceived the approach of death, he 
wrote a pressing letter to Lanfranc. earnestly recommending the 
succession of his second son to the kingdom which he had gained 
by his sw T ord. Lanfranc obeyed the last injunction of his master ; 
and had it not been for the influence of the primate, the English 
nation would have placed the crown on the head of Robert, the 
rightful heir. 

The first two years of the reign of William Rufus were employed 

in subduing the Normans in the interest of his brother. The 

English who had assisted him expected protection, if not favour ; 

but their hopes were disappointed, and their condition was ren- 

ingratitude dered insupportable. Lanfranc, in terms of respectful firmness, 

iinfrSu>!° remonstrated with the King on his falsehood and ingratitude ; but* 

by his honesty he drew on himself the resentment of the man 

whom he had raised to supreme power. Rufus, in an angry tone, 

who dies an( ^ w ^ n an oatn ' as ^ e ^- the primate whether he thought it pos- 

through sible for a king always to keep his faith ? From this time Lan- 

tio ^ ^ franc w r as used with distrust and discourtesy, and, mortified at the 



HILDEBEET — GREGORY, ETC. 239 

conduct of a prince whom he had placed over the nation, he shortly a.d. 1090 
afterwards died, lamented by both parties. 

Although a large portion of the life of Lanfranc was passed in His literary 
the administration of public affairs, yet his literary attainments character - 
were considerable for his age. He was well acquainted with the 
ancient Latin fathers and with the canons of the Church. His 
style is neither figurative nor florid, but plain and expressive, and 
his materials are well arranged. His two chief works are a ' Com- His works - 
mentary on the Epistles of St. Paul' and a ' Treatise on the Cor- 
poreal Presence ' against Berenger. His entire works were edited 
by Ducher, folio, Paris, 1648. 

' Hist. Lit. de France,' torn. viii. p. 260 ; Cave, ' Hist. Lit.' 
torn. ii. p. 147 ; Godwin, ' de Prsesulibus,' vi. ; Collier, ' Eccl. 
Hist, of Great Britain,' vol. i. pp. 260-263. 

HILDEBEET, 

OB. A.D. 1132, 

was archbishop of Tours, a philosopher and poet, as well as a 
divine. He was a man of respectable learning, the follower of 
Berenger, and therefore not fairly treated by the historians of the 
Romish Church. His works were edited by the Benedictine monks 
at Paris, fol. 1708, with the notes of Beaugendre. 
Cave, 'Hist. Lit.' torn. ii. p. 161. 

GREGOKY VII. 

OB. A.D. 1088. 

The catalogue of ecclesiastical writers cannot properly omit a 
notice, however brief, of that pontiff from whom the eleventh cen- 
tury is denominated. Of his writings there are extant ten books 
of ' Epistles, Concil.' torn. x. pp. 6-306 ; an ' Exposition of the Seven 
Penitential Psalms ' —but this has been ascribed to another Gregory 
— an ' Exposition of the Gospel of St. Matthew,' &c. 

Cave, 'Hist. Lit.' torn. ii. p. 151; Hen. Wharton, 'Auct. ad 
Hist. Dogmat. CI. Usserii,' p. 105. 

PETER CHRYSOLANUS, 
about the beginning of the twelfth century, was chosen archbishop 
of Milan, and was sent as legate by Pope Paschal II. to Constan- 
tinople, in the reign of Alexius Comnenus. A discourse in which 
he refuted the Greek errors respecting the procession of the Holy 
Ghost, is to be found in Baronius and Leo Allatius. 

EUSTRATIUS 

was archbishop of Nice, and wrote an answer to Chrysolanus, which 
is still extant in manuscript. He is the author also of certain 
'Commentaries' on the 'Analytics' and 'Ethics' of Aristotle. 



240 ECCLESIASTICAL WEITEES — ELEVENTH AJTD TWELFTH CENT. 



EUTHYMIUS ZYGABEXUS, 

A.D. 1140 a Greek monk of the order of St. Basil, wrote among other works 
a treatise against heretics, under the title of ' Panoplia Dogmatica,' 
and a copious ' Commentary on the Psalms.' He lived early in 
the century. 

PHILIP THE SOLITARY, 

FL. CIR. A.D. 1105, 

also a monk, as his appellation denotes, is the author of a moral 
treatise, written by way of a dialogue between the soul and body, 
under the title of ' Dioptron,' or the l Rule of Christian Life.' 

MICHAEL GLYCAS, 

FL. CIR. A.D. 1150, 

Works. who is generally considered as belonging to this century, was bv 
birth a Sicilian, and composed a work of ' Annals,' in five books, 
treating of the history of the world since the time of the creation 
to the reign of Alexius Comnenus. 

COXSTAXTIUS HARMEXOPULUS, 

FL. CIR. A.D. 1150, 

was b} r profession a lawyer ; and the author of a ' Dictionary of 
Civil Law,' and also of a ' Collection of Canons,' both of which are 
esteemed. Some theological treatises of no great importance may 
give him a place here ; though we are not aware that there is the 
same excuse for the insertion of the name of 

JOANXES CIXXAMUS, 

DIED CIR. A.D. 1190, 

surnamed the Grammarian, who was secretary to the Emperor 
Manuel Comnenus, and composed a history of that Emperor, as 
well as of his predecessor John Comnenus. Xicephorus Bryennius 
has written the Byzantine history from a.d. 1057 to 10S1 ; and 
having mentioned these, we cannot omit the name of the cele- 
brated Anna Comnena, wife of this last, and daughter of the 
Emperor Alexius Comnenus, to whom we are indebted for the 
history of the reign of the prince. To this century also belongs 
Eustathius, bishop of Thessalonica, the author of the well -known 
commentary on Homer. 

JOANNES ZONAKAS, 

FL. CIR. A.D. 1120, 

was originally secretary to the Emperor Alexius Comnenus ; but 
subsequently became a monk, and, besides his compilation of 



THEODOEE BALSAMON — MICHAEL ANCHIALTTS, ETC. 241 

* Annals,' wrote ' Commentaries on the Canons of the Apostles, and A J). 1170 
of the Councils.' 

A work of a similar kind is still extant from the pen of 

THEODORE BALSAMON, 

DIED A.D. 1214, 

who was titular patriarch of Antioch during the occupation of that 
city by the Latins, and who undertook it at the order of the Em- 
peror Manuel, and of his patron, 

MICHAEL ANCHIALUS, 

at that time patriarch of Constantinople, and himself the author 
of certain tracts relating to the ecclesiastical transactions of his 
time. 

HUGO ETHERIANUS 

was a Latin by birth, being born in Tuscany ; but he spent his 
life at Constantinople, where he was particularly in favour with the 
Emperor Manuel Comnenus. He seems, notwithstanding, to have 
retained his Latin opinions on theological inquiries, for his principal 
work is a treatise vindicating the doctrine of the procession of the 
Holy Ghost from the Son as well as from the Father. He wrote 
also a work on the state of the soul after death. 

THEORIANUS 

is known as an author only by the interesting account he has left 

us of the mission into Armenia, on which he was sent, A.D. 1170, Mission to 

-Armanis 

by the Emperor Manuel, with a view of bringing about a reunion 
of the Armenian with the Greek Church. His narrative contains 
a very clear and satisfactory statement of his various conferences 
with the Armenian patriarch ; in the course of which both parties 
seem to have argued the differences existing between the two 
Churches with exemplary talent and liberality. The dispute, it is 
known, chiefly turned upon the Monophysite doctrine, which was 
generally held by the Armenians ; though, if we may trust the 
statement of Theorianus, the patriarch, upon this occasion, was 
induced to acknowledge the decision of the Council of Chalcedon 
on that point ; and to promise to use his endeavours to get it ad- 
mitted as the standard of faith by the rest of his Church. The 
narrative itself is to be found in the ' Bibliotheca Patrum.' 

The scanty catalogue which we have here given of the Greek General ot>- 
writers of the twelfth century, sufficiently indicates how much the orflhe^tate 
Eastern Church had already fallen off from that ardour of disput- ctoci? reek 
ation and copiousness of production which had in former ages 
distinguished her members. This was no doubt in a great degree 

B 



242 ECCLESIASTICAL WBITEBS — ELEVENTH AND TWELFTH CE5T. 



Emperor 
Manuel's 
love of con 
troTersy. 



a.d. 1180 to be ascribed to the bligbting and darkening influence of Moham- 
medan domination. The provinces which were former! } r most fruit- 
ful in theological talent, Egypt, Africa, and Syria, had now been 
long subjected to that worse than barbarous oppression ; and cities, 
the sees of which had been rendered illustrious by the genius and 
learning and piety of Cyprian, Chrysostom, Athanasius, and Augus- 
tine, were doomed to languish in dread and silence under the sway 
of a fanatical and ferocious soldiery. The imperial metropolis, 
indeed, was still free ; but whatever be the reason of the fact, the 
theological schools of Constantinople had never equalled those either 
of Carthage, Alexandria, or Antioch, in the number or learning of 
the doctors bred under their auspices. Under the Comneni, how- 
ever, some encouragement was given to learning, and still more to 
controversy ; the passion for which, during the sensible decay of 
every other intellectual pursuit, still remained undiminished in the 
Byzantine people. The Emperor Manuel Comnenus himself took 
a warm interest in casuistical disputes and subtilties ; and reposed 
with so much confidence upon the conclusions at which he arrived 
in these refined researches, that in one case, 1 he denounced capital 
punishment against all who should presume to teach any other but 
his own explication of the difficulty, to which he had condescended 
to apply his autocratical criticisms. His successor Andronicus, 
with similar violence, but somewhat more impartiality, not merely 
abrogated this arbitrary decree, but issued another, prohibiting, 
under penalties of almost equal severity, all further agitation of 
the question. 

The schism which continued to separate the Greek and Latin 
Churches involved a controversy of more importance in its practical 
object, though turning upon doctrinal differences in themselves not 
less subtle and unimportant. Several attempts were made in the 
course of this century to brin^ about the reconcilement of the two 
Churches ; a consummation which the Greek Emperors themselves 
were particularly anxious to accomplish, with a view of drawing 
closer the ties of political alliance with the Western nations, of 
whose support they felt they were likely soon to experience the 
most instant need. But the lofty pretensions of the Boman pon- 
tiffs, which at this time were culminating to their highest point 
of exaggeration, precluded all chance of an accommodation, so 
evidently desirable to both parties ; nor, it must be confessed, did 
the Greek doctors themselves evince any material disposition to 
concession with respect to those doctrinal points upon which their 
division from their Western brethren had originally turned ; and 
the result of these attempts at reconcilement was by their failure, 
only still further to aggravate the original asperities of the quarrel. 



Attempts to 
reunite the 
Latin and 
Greek 
Churches. 



1 That of the sense in which we are to understand our Lord's Baying ' ; My Father 



is greater than I." 



BEENAED OE CLAIEYAL. 243 

The writers of the Western Church during the twelfth century A.D. 1130 
were much more numerous than those of the Eastern, and among 
them are to be reckoned many of distinguished learning and ability. 
To these for the most part we shall confine our notices, whether 
biographical or bibliographical. In truth from this period the 
number both of books and of authors becomes so considerable that 
any other method would hardly be consistent with the plan and 
limits of our work. 

Upon this principle of selection the first place is undoubtedly 
due to the celebrated 

BERNARD OF CLAIRVAL, 

DIED A.D. 1153, 

a man who, in every point of view, must be considered as one of 
the first of his age, and who, indeed, may be said to have exercised 
a greater personal influence over his contemporaries than has ever 
belonged to a private churchman either before or since. This 
remarkable man was born in 1091, of a noble family, at Fontaine 
in Burgundy. At the age of twenty-two he, with his five brothers, 
left his father's house to take the mouastic habit in the convent 
of Citeaux, which had only a short while before been founded by 
Robert of Molesme. The convent was then under the government 
of Stephen Harding, an Englishman, who may more truly be con- 
sidered as its founder, by the system of discipline which he intro- 
duced, and which continued permanently to form the rule of the 
Cistercian order. Two years after, upon the foundation of the 
monastery of Clairval, Bernard was appointed the first abbot ; and 
the reputation which he had thus early acquired for learning and 
piety was so great that within a short time his convent was filled 
with votaries from all parts ; and during his lifetime he had the 
satisfaction of seeing a pope, six cardinals, and more than thirty 
bishops chosen from among the number of his disciples. His fame 
was now spread throughout Europe, and scarcely any affair of 
importance was transacted in which he was not consulted. He 
was specially summoned to assist at the Councils of Troves and of 
Chalons, in the years 1128 and 1129 ; and it was by his personal 
influence and persuasion, primarily and chiefly, that Innocent II. 
was acknowledged as pope, in preference to his competitor Victor, 
whom he finally induced to make a voluntary abdication. His 
talents and influence were afterwards employed, and almost always 
successfully, in the settlement of most of the differences which 
took place in his time either among the princes of Europe them- 
selves or between them and the pope. It was at his instance, and 
by his preaching, that the second Crusade was undertaken ; the 
result of which, however, was far from answering the expectations 
which had been entertained of it. Nor was he less indefatigable 



24i ECCLESIASTICAL WBITERS — ELEVENTH &BTD TWELFTH CENT. 

a.d. 1140 or less dexterous in the defence of the doctrines of the Church. It 
was to him she looked, upon almost every occasion, for the refuta- 
tion of the various errors or heresies which from time to time 
made their appearance ; as was particularly evinced in the contro- 
versies which he maintained with the celebrated Peter Abelard and 
with Gilbert, bishop of Poitiers. Bernard died at Clair val on the 
20th of August, 1153, leaving not less than one hundred and sixty 
monasteries which owed their foundation and establishment to 
him. His works are comprised in two volumes folio, and consist 
of a great number of ' Letters ' addressed to the leading persons of 
his time on ecclesiastical and public affairs, of ' Sermons,' and of 
some devotional and controversial tracts. 1 All of them are dis- 
tinguished by marks of a solid judgment, warm feelings, and a pro- 
found knowledge of Scripture ; and, considering the barbarism of 
the age, are written in a style deficient neither in purity nor clear- 
ness. He is called the last of the fathers ; and, in fact, may be 
considered as the latest of the writers who followed their method 
of treating or discussing subjects in divinity, in contradistinction 
to the scholastic or dialectic method, which had now become 
fashionable, and of which one of the earliest and most distin- 
guished leaders was the famous 

PETER ABELARD, 
a.d. 1079-1142, 

whom we have already mentioned as having been engaged in con- 
troversy with St. Bernard. This celebrated divine was born in 
1079, in a village near Nantes, and earlv distinguished himself in 
the schools, as well by the novelty and boldness of his opinions as 
by the subtiltv and force of the logic with which he defended 
hem. He had already acquired a high reputation, and his theolo- 
gical lectures at Paris were crowded with students from all parts, 
when his too famous adventure with a female pupil, Heloise, the 
niece of one of the canons of Paris, involved him in embarrass- 
ments and difficulties which may be said to have embittered the 
rest of his existence. After the mutilation which the vengeance 
of his wife's relations had inflicted upon him, he betook himself to 
a monastic life at St. Denys, at the same time persuading Heloise 
to take the veil. He did not stay long at St. Denys ; a commu- 
nity to which he gave offence, as well by his censure of their irre- 
gularities as by some doubts he ventured to throw out respecting 
the identity of their patron with the Areopagite of the same name ; 
but retired to Provins, where he opened a school which speedily 
became famous. The opinions, however, which he ventured to ad- 
vance respecting the Trinity, in a work which he published on that 

1 A very minnte and ample account of the worts of Bernard, particularly of his let- 
ters, is to' be found in Dupin, Eccles. Hist. voL x. 



GILBERT DS LA POEEE, 245 

subject, involved hirn in new difficulties. A Council was held at A.D. 1150 
Soissons which compelled him to recant his errors, and to bum 
with his own hands the book which contained them. He was now 
sent back to St. Denys ; but the disgust he received there again 
drove him to seek refuge in the diocese of Troyes, where, by the 
assistance of some friends, he built a small oratory, called the 
Paraclete, which the affluence of scholars who flocked to him, and 
who erected cells around his dwelling, soon swelled to a consi- 
derable convent. After a short time he transferred the care of 
this new foundation to Heloise, and accepted for himself the abbey 
of St. Gildas in Brittany. Here again his repose was disturbed 
by doubts raised as to the soundness of the doctrines which he 
continued to teach. It was at this time that St. Bernard found 
it necessary to send him an admonition on the subject, which 
proving ineffectual, he formally complained of him to Pope Inno- 
cent IL, accusing him as well of a leaning to Pelagianism in his 
doctrine of grace as of a tincture both of Arian and Nestorian 
heresy in what he taught of the Trinity. A Council was held on 
the subject at Sens, a.d. 1140, when Bernard produced the ob- 
noxious passages from the writings of Abelard, and called upon 
him to retract. Abelard did not attempt to explain or defend 
them, but contented himself with appealing to Borne. The Coun- 
cil condemned the propositions in question ; a sentence which was 
afterwards confirmed by the pope ; upon which they were disowned 
by Abelard, who did not long survive the transaction. After a 
short retreat at Clugny, he died, a.d. 1142, in a monastery, to 
which he had been consigned, near Chalons, being then in the 
sixtv-third vear of his a^e. His bodv was sent to be interred at 
the Paraclete, where Heloise survived him above twenty years, 
and was afterwards buried in the same grave. 1 

St. Bernard, who had taken such a leading part in the condemna- 
tion of the errors of Abelard, was equally active in procuring that of 

GILBERT DE LA PORREE, 

DIED A.D. 1154, 

a native of Poitiers, who, after having taught philosophy and 
theology in that city, was chosen bishop of the same diocese, a.d. 

1 See Dupin, Ecclesiast. Hist. vol. x. p. Ill, for a very satisfactory abstract of the 
works and doctrine of Abelard. The summary given in the following sentence of the 
kind of objections to which he had laid himself open is too characteristic to be omitted 
"St. Bernard, in general, accuses Abelard of treating of the Trinity like Arius, of 
grace like Pelagius, and of the incarnation like Xestonus; of having 'boasted that he 
was ignorant of nothing, and of never being willing to say nescio on any subject ; of 
attempting to expound inexplicable things, and to comprehend incomprehensible mys- 
teries ; of giving a reason for that which is above reason ; of believing nothing but 
what reason discovers to us ; of placing degrees in the Trinity, terms and limits to the 
Deity, and numbers in Eternity/' 

See also Bavle, ad v. Abelard. 



246 ECCLESIASTICAL WKITERS — ELEVENTH AND TWELFTH CENT. 

a.d. 1150 1141. He is admitted to have been one of the most able and 
learned men of his time ; but his attempt to explain some of the 
mysteries of Christianity rather according to the philosophy of 
Aristotle than to the language of Scripture and of the fathers, led 
him into considerable errors ; or at least into modes of expression 
which were calculated to shock the received opinions on the sub- 
jects of which he treated. He was accused more particularly of 
asserting in his commentaries on the works of Boethius these four 
propositions respecting the Trinity : — 1. That the Divine Essence 
was not God; 2. That the properties of the Divine Persons were 
not the Persons themselves ; 3. That the Divine Persons were not 
an attribute in any proposition ; 4. That the Divine Nature was 
not incarnate. The three former of these propositions, whether 
accurate or not, would seem to involve matter rather of metaphy- 
sical, or indeed grammatical, than of strictly theological consider- 
ation ; and perhaps the same remark is equally applicable to the 
fourth ; though this would appear to imply a coincidence with 
what is called the Nestorian heresy. In a Council held at Paris, 
a.d. 1147, under the presidency of the pope himself, the alleged 
errors were formally condemned, and Gilbert compelled to recant. 
Nothing, however, was attempted against his person, and he re- 
turned to his diocese, where he died about seven years after. His 
writings, we believe, have never been printed. 

We must not here omit to mention the celebrated 

IVES, YVES, OR IVO, BISHOP OF CHARTRES, 
a.d. 1035-1115, 

though by far the greater part of his life belongs rather to the 
preceding century. He was born at Beauvais, of a noble family, 
and studied divinity under Lanfranc, in the abbey of Bee. In 
a.d. 1078 he was appointed abbot of St. Quentin, a monastery to 
which he gave all his property ; and the members of which, under 
his government, became remarkable for their regularity and learn- 
ing. Fourteen years after (a.d. 1092), upon the deposition of 
Geoffrey, bishop of Chartres, for simony, Ives was chosen by the 
clergy and people of the diocese to fill his place. His metropolitan, 
Richer of Sens, however, refused to consecrate the new Bishop, on 
the ground that his predecessor had not been canonically deposed ; 
and it was only after a long struggle that the direct interposition 
of the pope enabled Ives to take possession of his see. In the 
exercise of his episcopal functions he displayed the same zeal, 
activity, and courage, for the maintenance of ecclesiastical disci- 
pline and in vindication of the rights of the Church, which had 
uniformly distinguished him ; and this spirit is eminently ob- 
servable in his ' Letters,' a large collection of which have come 
down to us. He has also left two collections of ecclesiastical 
canons, under the several titles of the ' Pannormia ' and the ' De- 



GEOFFREY. OF ANGERS — JOHN OF SALISBURY, ETC. 217 

eretum,' the former of which, however, has by some been attri- a.d. 1170 
buted to another person. 

See Dupin, ' Eccles. Hist.' vol. x. p. 22. 

GEOFFREY OF ANGERS, CARDINAL, AND ABBOT OF VENDOME, 

DIED A.D. 1132, 

was mnch employed, both by the popes and by the king of France, 
Louis the Fat, in various ecclesiastical and political transactions, 
and died about a.d. 1132. His works consist chiefly of l Letters' 
and short Treatises on the various subjects of controversy that 
occurred in his time. They are interesting chiefly as illustrative 
in many respects both of the history and theology of the age in 
which he lived. 

A writer of much greater intrinsic interest is the celebrated 

JOHN OF SALISBURY, 

DIED A.D. 1181, 

the friend and biographer of Thomas a-Becket, and himself one of 
the most acute and penetrating geniuses of his time. He was 
elected Bishop of Chartres, a.d. 1177; assisted at the Lateran 
Council, a.d. 1179 : and died a.d. 1181. His principal work, 
entitled the ' Policraticon,' or 'De Nugis Curiaiium, 5 is rather 
moral and satirical than strictly theological, but contains many 
passages of deep thought and original observation. Traces of the 
same vigour of mind are to be found in his \ Letters,' addressed to 
various distinguished contemporaries, which are still extant to the 
number of three hundred. He was succeeded in the bishopric of 
Chartres by his pupil, 

PETER OF CELLES, 

DIED A.D. 1187, 

himself a writer of some distinction in his age, but whose works, 
consisting for the most part of ' Letters,' ' Sermons,' and ' Devo- 
tional Tracts,' are now chiefly remarkable as being among the first 
in which the word transubstantiation is employed. He governed 
the Church of Chartres five years, and died a.d. 1187. 

PETER OF BLOIS, 

DIED A.D. 1200, 

so named from the place of his birth, who, after having been in 
the service of William II., king of Sicily, passed, at the invitation 
of King Henry II., into England, where he was appointed arch- 
deacon, first of Bath and afterwards of London. He died a.d. 
1200. Of his writings, as of those of most of his literary contem- 



248 ECCLESIASTICAL WRITEES — ELEVENTH A^D TWELFTH CENT. 

a.d. 1170 poraries, his own ' Letters/ addressed principally to public per- 
sons and on public matters, form the largest and most interesting 
portion. 

Few authors of this age acquired more celebrity than 

PETER, SURNAMED COMESTOE, OR THE EATER, 

DIED A.D. 1198, 

who was born at Troves, and became canon and dean of that 
chapter, and afterwards chancellor of Paris. He died a.d. 1198. 
His principal work is an abridgment of sacred history, from the 
book of ' Genesis' to the ' Acts of the Apostles,' under the title of 
'Historia Scholastica ;' though this title, it has been supposed, 
was afterwards attached to the work from the circumstance of its 
being commonly read in schools. 

PETER OF CLUGNY, 

DIED A.D. 1156, 

surnamed the Venerable, a native of Auvergne, who took the reli- 
gious habit in the monastery of Clugny, and so early distinguished 
himself among his brethren by his learning and piety that he was 
elected abbot and general of his order in 1121, when he was not 
more than twenty-eight years of age. He took an active part in 
the refutation and suppression of the errors of the Petrobruss- 
sians and Henricians, and died at Clugny, in 1156. The works 
of his which are still extant consist chiefly of ' Letters ' and 
' Homilies. 5 

HONORIUS OF AUTUK, 

surnamed the Solitary, nourished early in this century. Little is 
known of his life ; but he has left some devotional and theological 
treatises, which, particularly that c On Predestination and Free 
Will,' are marked by considerable power of reasoning. 
The same is observable of the writings of 

RUPERT OF DUYTZ, 
ad. 1091-1135, 

a learned Flemish Benedictine, and superior of the abbey of 
Duytz, near Cologne, whose ' Commentaries' on the Scripture afford 
the first instance of the application of the scholastic method to the 
exposition of the sacred text. He is also the author of a treatise 
- De Ofiiciis,' in which he discourses of the ceremonies of the divine 
services, and assigns mystical reasons for their adoption. He died 
in 1135, aged forty-four. 



HUGH AND EICHAED OF ST. VICTOR — PETER LOMBARD, ETC. 249 

With him must be associated another celebrated commentator a.d. 1180 
on the Bible. We mean 

HUGH OF ST. VICTOR, 
a.d. 1098-1142, 

also a native of Flanders, who took the monastic habit in the ab- 
bey of that name at Paris, where his theological teachings acquired 
him such renown that he was called the new Augustine ; the style 
as well as doctrines of which father he sedulously imitated in his 
writings. Of these the chief is a treatise 'on the Sacraments/ 
He became prior of his community, and died at the early age of 
forty-four, in 1142. Another distinguished ornament of the same 
community was 

RICHARD OF ST. VICTOR, 

DIED A.D, 1173, 

of which abbey he died prior, in 1173. He was a Scotchman by 
birfch, and may be considered as the leading writer among the 
mystics of this age ; nor are his critical works, of which many are 
yet extant, deficient either in learning or judgment. 

To the above we must add the names of two celebrated scholas- 
tic divines, whose works continued ' for a long while to constitute 
text-books in that department of study in the universities of 
Europe. Of these the first is 

PETER LOMBARD, 

DIED A.D. 1164, 

a native of the north of Italy, as his surname indicates. After 
commencing his studies in the university of Bologna, he proceeded 
to finish them in that of Paris, where he so distinguished himself 
that he was shortly nominated to the divinity chair; and, in 1159. 
was elected bishop of the city. He died in 1164. His great work 
is the celebrated ' Book of Sentences,' in which he treats of all the 
principal questions which were then debated in the schools, and 
illustrates them by a copious and methodical collection of apposite 
passages from the fathers, chiefly from Hilary, Jerome, Ambrose, 
and Augustine. This work soon became classical, and was made 
the subject of voluminous commentaries by most of the great scho- 
lastic divines in that and the following centuries. 

The other writer of this kind whom we propose to mention is 

ROBERT PULLENS, 

DIED A.D. 1150, 

or Pullus, an Englishman by birth, who also studied at Paris, and 
became professor of divinity in that university. He was at the 



250 ECCLESIASTICAL WRITERS — ELEVENTH A>'D TWELFTH CENT. 

a.d. 1180 same time archdeacon of Bochester ; and his diocesan summoning 
him to reside, upon pain of sequestration of his revenues, he ap- 
pealed to the pope, who not merely justified his absence, but called 
him to Eome, where he was made cardinal and chancellor of the 
Eoman Church. He died about 1150. He also was the author 
of a book of ' Sentences,' bearing the same title as that of Peter 
Lombard, but formed on a different plan ; as he does not, like the 
latter, confine himself merely to the illustration of the various 
questions in hand, by passages from the fathers, but attempts to 
resolve them either by reasoning, or by reference to Holy Scripture. 

ST. AXSELM. 
a.d. 1033-1109. 

Although this philosopher and saint died in the early part of 
the twelfth century, the influence of his teaching was impressed 
on its whole course. He was born at Aost, in a valley of the Alps, 
Piedmont, in 1033, studied under Lanfranc. at Bee, in Normandy, 
became a member of the order of St. Benedict, visited Lanfranc in 
England, and on his death was elected his successor to the see of 
Canterbury. His political history is irrelevant to the purpose of 
this work, but his writings merit our notice. The ' Monolosnon ' 
and 'Prosologion' are two books devoted to a demonstration of 
the existence of God. The former contains the inductive, the 
latter the a priori deductive or ideal argument on this topic. His 
life was noble, and his death was philosophically calm and Christ- 
ianly holy. When the atmosphere of eternity was floating round 
his couch, truth began to be more clearly perceptible to his vision, 
and he died with a sigh that he was unable to leave his latest 
thoughts as a legacy to the world. Bouehitte has reprinted his 
writings, and Bemusat has written an appreciative life and esti- 
mate of the learned prelate. 

This enumeration of ecclesiastical writers mi^ht be £:reatlv 
lengthened ; but we believe we have now touched upon the chief 
of those who treated directly of theology. Other distinguished 
churchmen there were whose works on history, philosophy, or 
jurisprudence are among the most valuable productions of that age. 
But upon these, as not falling properly within the scope of our 
present purpose, we forbear to dwell, 



( 251 ) 



CHAPTER XYI. 

HERESIES OF THE ELEVENTH AND TWELFTH CENTURIES. 



Albigenses. 

Petrobrussians. 

Henricians. 



Cathari. 

Arnold of Brescia, 

"Waldenses. 



No sect worthy of notice had its origin in this century, and the a.d. 1070 
state of the ancient heresies suffered no material change. The No new sect 
Paulicians, either from a desire of propagating their opinions or of Paulicians _ 
emancipating themselves from the Grecian yoke, now formed set- Europe. 
tlements in Europe. They first migrated into Italy, whence, in 
process of time, they sent colonies into many of the European 
States. Many of them led a wandering life in Germany and 
France, where they gained the veneration of the multitude. In 
Italy they were called Paterini and Cathari ; in France they had 
the appellation of Albigenses, from the town of Albig in Upper 
Languedoc, and of Publicans, that term being a corruption of their 
first name. The first religious assembly which the Paulicians 
formed in Europe is said to have been discovered at Orleans. An 
Italian lady was at its head, and twelve canons of the cathedral of 
Orleans were its principal members, a.d. 1077. The character of 
these people differed from the other Paulicians, their tenets ap- 
proaching to mysticism, and the same observation will apply to 
another branch of the Paulician sect, converted from their errors 
by Gerhard, bishop of Cambray. 

In this century a controversy arose of a subtle and difficult na- SbSISSoL 
ture, begun by Posellinus, a canon of Compiegne. This theologian 
maintained that the Father and the Holy Ghost as well as the Son 
became incarnate ; and when it was objected that this doctrine led 
to Tritheism, he answered that the existence of Three Gods might 
be asserted with truth, whatever harshness there might be in the 
mode of expression. He was obliged to retract this tenet by a He is com- 
Council at Soissons, but he resumed it when the Council was dis- retract 
missed. Persecution drove him to England, where he propagated 
dangerous tenets of another kind ; and when he was banished 
thence he returned to Paris, where he revived the former Tritheis- 
tic dispute. After encountering many persecutions, he retired to His latter 
Aquitaine, where he gained universal esteem, and passed the con- 
clusion of his days in tranquillity. 1 

Of the heresies of the twelfth century, the first which caused any Petrobrus- 
considerable disturbance was broached in the South of France by one HenricLia. 

1 Hist. Lit. de France, torn. ix. p. 358. 



252 HERESIES OF THE ELEYENTn AND TWELFTH CENTURIES. 



a.d. 1130 Peter of Bruis, and his disciple Henry. 1 We are indebted for an 
account of their doctrines chiefly to their adversary, Peter the 
Venerable, abbot of Clugny, in whose refutation they are classed 
under five principal heads f viz. 1st, they opposed infant baptism, 
confining the administration of that rite to adults only ; and 
baptizing all persons previous to their admission into the sect ; 
2dly, they condemned as impious the use of all churches, temples, 
and altars, and exemplified their conviction on this head by 
destroying them wherever they had the power ; 3dly, they re- 
jected the adoration of crosses, and broke them on all occasions ; 
4thly, they declared against the mass as useless ; and 5th ly, they 
taught that alms and prayers for the dead were unavailing. These 
doctrines they not only taught, but proceeded to put into execu- 
tion wherever they possessed the opportunity ; so that throughout 
Provence and Languedoc for some time nothing but confusion and 
violence prevailed ; churches were profaned or pulled down ; altars 
destroyed, and crosses burned ; the priests were ill-treated, and in 
some cases compelled to marry ; and all the ordinary rituals of the 
Church were abolished. The authorities, both civil and ecclesias- 
tical, found it at length necessary to take rigorous measures for 
the suppression of these disturbances ; the principal authors of 
them were seized ; and among them Peter himself, who, after a 
ministry of above twenty years, was burned alive at St. Gilles, in 
Languedoc, in 1130. 

A heresy, of somewhat similar character, and manifesting itself 
by like violence, broke out soon after in Perigueux. A contem- 
porary writer 3 describes its followers as affecting a strictly apostolic 
life, eating no flesh, drinking no wine, or scarcely any, praying 
almost incessantly, and renouncing all right of property. They 
disregarded the mass, and denounced the adoration of crosses and 
crucifixes as idolatrous. "This sect," continues the same writer, 
" increases greatly, and is followed not only by many persons of 
quality, who leave their estates, but by many ecclesiastics both 
secular and regular." u 'Tis a hard matter," he adds, "to take 
them, for whenever they are apprehended the devil helps them out 
of prison." He adds, that they performed miracles, and that the 
name of the head of their sect was Pontius. 

Doctrines, substantially the same, seem to have been promul- 
gated about this time in Flanders, and in parts of Germany, by a 
teacher named Tanquelmus. A similar spirit was manifested in 



Similar 
heresy in 
Perigueux. 



Tanquel- 
mus, 



1 Some writers (see Mosheim, Eccles. Hist. vol. ii. p. 448,) question the fact that 
Henry was a disciple of Peter, on the ground of certain material differences in the 
doctrines which they taught. Henry was brought before a Council, presided over by 
Pope Eugenius III., at Kheims, in 1148, and afterwards committed to prison, in which 
he died. 

2 See Basnage, Histoire des Eglises Eeformees, Period iv. p. 140. 

s A monk of the name of Herbert. See Dupin, vol. x. p. 87, who, however, does 
not state the name of the work from which this citation is derived. 



SPUKIOUS DOCTRINES OP THE CHTJKCH. 253 

Italy, in many parts of which the sect of the Cathari continued a.d. 1150 
to prevail, and to occasion considerable embarrassment to the catnari. 
Church. It is palpable from the common character which pre- 
vailed among all these sects, that their proximate cause is to be 
sought in some circumstances of general operation ; of these there 
can be no doubt but that the principal one was the sense which so 
naturally began to prevail of the corruptions and abuses existing 
in the Church ; and of the glaring and barefaced perversions of 
scriptural doctrine which so many of her tenets involved. It was 
impossible that any one could open that Book, which the clergy 
still professed to consider as the standard of their faith and prac- 
tice, without perceiving not merely how grossly they had degen- 
erated in both from the purity and simplicity of their Master's 
precepts, but that in a large proportion of instances they were in 
fact acting and teaching directly in contradiction to them. Hence 
it was that a teacher, however humble or uninstructed, had only 
to profess a doctrine somewhat more obviously accordant with the 
spirit of the gospel, and whatever might be his errors on other 
subjects, or however absurd his pretensions, 1 he was immediately 
surrounded by a host of followers. These, on their part, were 
easily excited to express their disgust at the corruptions of the 
Church, by acts of violence against her property and members, 
and thus afforded to the ecclesiastical authorities but too fair a 
pretext for calling in the arm of the State to assist in the suppres- 
sion of them. 

Besides the doctrines we have here mentioned as referring to 
the discipline and system of the Church, and which were common 
to all these sects, there were others connected with the fundamental 
Articles of Faith, by the entertainment of which, perhaps, they 
more strictly deserved the name of heretics. We have already 
mentioned their errors on the subject of infant baptism and the 
eucharist. Some of them are said to have questioned the divinity 
of our Saviour; others to have entangled themselves in certain 
Manichsean notions respecting the attributes of the Deity ; but 
upon all these points, as our accounts of them are derived almost 
exclusively from their adversaries, we must make allowance for a 
considerable spirit of exaggeration, if not of misrepresentation, in 
the statements which have come down to us. 

1 One of the most striking illustrations of the prevailing fanaticism of the age is to 
be found in the success of a certain crack-brained gentleman in Brittany, of the name 
of Eon, who, hearing in church these words chanted, " Per Eum qui venturus est 
judicare vivos et mortuos," took it into his head that he was the person thus designated. 
Accordingly, he made public his pretensions as such, and they were immediately ad- 
mitted by a great multitude of followers, who reverenced him as the Son of God. He 
was seized, and brought before Pope Eugenius III. at the Council held at Rheims in 
1148, and condemned to close confinement, in which he soon after died; but his 
madness survived in a considerable number of his disciples, many of whom were con- 
tent to undergo death at the stake, rather than abandon their belief in him. See 
Matthew Paris, Hist. Major, p. 68. 



254 HEBESLES OF THE ELEVENTH AND TWELFTH CENTURIES. 



A.D. 1180 

Arnold of 
Brescia. 



Waldenses. 



It is not clear whether we can strictly reckon among this class 
of heretics the celebrated Arnold of Brescia, who gave so much 
trouble to the Papal government during the pontificate of Euge- 
nius III. , though he has been accused of participating in the 
opinions we have mentioned respecting the Lord's Supper and 
infant baptism. The distinguishing feature of his doctrine, how- 
ever, and that by the promulgation of which he most peculiarly 
excited the alarm and vengeance of his enemies, was the tenet 
which he fearlessly proclaimed, that ecclesiastics should not be 
allowed to hold property of any kind, beyond the voluntary obla- 
tions of the faithful. It must be admitted by every one who 
calmly considers the abuse which the clergy of those ages made 
of their privileges and opulence, that the doctrine of Arnold upon 
this subject was not without a plausible foundation both in fact 
and reason ; though the manner and the means by which he pro- 
ceeded to enforce the practical application of it to the court of 
Home were somewhat too undistinsaiishing in their violence. Not* 
withstanding the temporary success of his enterprise, he was, after 
a long struggle, seized by the governor of the city in the year 
a.d. 1155, and put to a cruel death. His party, however, outlived 
him, and continued from time to time to occasion considerable 
disturbance to the papal court. 

But of all the sects that arose in the course of this century, the 
one which, as well by the purity of its doctrine as by the ability 
and courage of its leaders, attracted the greatest number of fol- 
lowers, and exercised the most permanent influence, was that of 
the Waldenses. The accounts given of the birth of this sect are 
various. By some they are said to have derived their origin and 
name from the valleys of Piedmont, the inhabitants of which, 
called the Vaudois, had, up to this period, retained in their inac- 
cessible fastnesses the primitive doctrine of Christianity, uncon- 
taminated by the corruptions with which it had everywhere else 
become infected. Others ascribe its commencement to the exer- 
tions of Peter Waldus, an eminent merchant of Lyons, who having 
employed a priest to translate for him into French a great part of 
the Holy Scriptures, together with portions of the comments of 
the early fathers, was so struck with the difference thus presented 
to him, between the doctrine of the gospel, and that of the Church, 
that he was impelled to devote himself to the duty of recalling his 
contemporaries to the knowledge and practice of the religion of 
Christ. With this view he gave up his business, distributed all 
he had among the poor, and putting himself at the head of a few 
followers, began to travel from place to place, preaching everywhere 
what he considered to be the pure doctrine of the Scriptures. 
This was about the year a.d. 1180 } The attempts made by the 

1 See Basnage, Histoire des Eglises Reformers, torn. i. p. 329. See also Mosheim, 
vol. ii. p. 452. with Machine's Note. 



THE WALDEtfSES. 255 

clergy to suppress the new sect in its beginning, only gave it ad- a.d. 1200 
ditional vogue ; but the story of these exertions, as well as of the 
subsequent progress of the Waldenses, belongs more properly to 
the following century. 

We shall only add here a short account of their tenets, as well Their tenets, 
as we have been able to ascertain their nature amid the confused, 
and often contradictory accounts of the various writers who have 
undertaken to describe them. Their distinguishing character 
seems to have consisted in a strict adherence to what they con- 
sidered to be the doctrine originally delivered by Christ to his 
apostles ; and nearly all their errors are to be traced to the adop- 
tion of a too literal interpretation of the words of the gospel; 
without sufficiently considering how far the sense of particular 
precepts was to be limited or modified, not merely by the general 
sense of the particular passage, or by the apposition of others, but 
often also by the peculiar circumstances under which they were 
first spoken, and the proper office and function of the persons to 
whom they were addressed. It was thus that taking, as they did, 
the sermon on the Mount as the great summary of Christian duty, 
they conceived themselves bound by its injunctions to abstain from 
all warfare, whether just or unjust, whetner private or public ; 
from all resistance of injury ; from suits of law ; from oaths upon 
any occasion ; and from all care of their worldly substance, be- 
yond that provision which their daily labour afforded for the day 
passing over them. But whatever were the extravagances into 
which they were betrayed on these points, it is impossible not to 
respect their very errors, springing as they did from a spirit of the 
purest self-denial, and a sincere anxiety to tread, as they conceived, 
as strictly as possible in the footsteps of their Divine Master. 
Upon other matters, their opinions do not seem to differ materially 
from those of the Reformers, who in a later age, and upon grounds 
substantially similar, conceived themselves obliged to separate from 
the Church of Rome. 



( 256 ) 



CHAPTEB XVII. 



A.D. 79. 



Britain con- 
verted to 
Christianity 
in the apos- 
tolic aire. 



Probability 1 
tnat Christ- 
ianity was 
pJ anted in 
Britain by 
St Paul. 



THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SAXON CHURCH. 

In order that this subject may be discussed with greater perspicuity. 
it is necessary to give a brief yet comprehensive view of the religious 
state of Britain before the Saxon invasion. A sketch of the history 
of the island after its conversion to Christianity from Druidical 
Paganism, will properly precede its second recovery from the super- 
stitions of its Saxon conquerors. 

It is an opinion commonly received, that Christianity was first 
planted in Britain in the reign of Tiberius Csesar ; but that event 
may be fixed with more probability after the victory of Claudius, 
when the Romans began to colonize the island, and to establish 
magistrates and jurisdictions. To what particular apostle Britain 
is more immediately indebted for its knowledge of Christianity, it- 
is not easy to determine. Yet. although it may be difficult to 
ascertain who was really the first apostle of the Britons, there is 
no difficulty in showing that the honour does not belong to some 
names for whom it has been claimed. It was not James the son 
of Zebedee, as some have conjectured, for he suffered martyrdom 
before the dispersion of the apostles ; it was not Simon Zelotes, as 
others have supposed, for he was killed in Persia ; it was not Saint 
Peter, for he was the apostle of the circumcision ; it was not, 
according to any authentic evidence, Joseph of Arimathea, for the 
monastic records adduced in support of that opinion bear strong 
marks of forgery. 1 

The testimonies which prove that a Christian Church was 
planted by some one of the apostles, and probably by Saint Paul, 
are entitled to grave consideration. Among these we find Eusebius. 2 
a man high in the estimation of Constantine, the first Christian 
Emperor born and proclaimed in Britain. He had, therefore, an 
opportunity of learning from the Emperor, the actual state and 
the origin of the British Churches. That historian having proved 
that the apostles of Christ who preached the gospel to the world 
could not be impostors, among other arguments suggests that it 
would have been madness in men so illiterate, who understood only 
their native tongue, to attempt to deceive mankind by preaching 
the Christian doctrine in the most remote cities and countries. In 
the number of those countries he specifies those which are called 

1 "We have not one testimony which reaches to the point concerning Joseph of 
Arimathea winch is not originally taken from the Glastonbury Legends." Stillingfleet, 
Oris:. Briton, c. 1. 

2 Euseb. Dem. Evans:, lib. hi. c. 7. 



CHBISTIAISTTY rS"TBODUCED INTO BBITAIK. 257 

the British Islands. 1 Theodoret 3 also, in his enumeration of the a.d. 300. 
different nations converted by the apostles, names the Britons : 
and in another part of his history, speaking of the labours and 
success of Saint Paul, he says, that after his release from confine- 
ment at Borne, that apostle went into Spain, and thence carried 
the light of the gospel to other nations, and to the islands which lie 
in the ocean. These testimonies are confirmed by circumstances of 
great probability. Saint Paul had leisure and opportunity to visit 
Britain, and he had sufficient invitation and encouragement to 
extend his missionary travels thither. The proofs brought by some 
ecclesiastical writers, for particular reasons, to show that Saint 
Peter was the original apostle of Britain, are slender in comparison 
with the evidence in favour of Saint Paul ; but the controversy is 
of use in showing, from the concurrence of two opposite parties in 
the fact, that Christianity was planted in Britain soon after the 
death of its Divine author. 

The gospel having been introduced into Britain, a Christian 5r itis ^ 
Church subsisted there, though not always in an equal degree of under the 
vigour, till the persecution of Diocletian. 3 It then acquired new cfSfodetian. 
strength and reputation from the pious fortitude of its martyrs. a.d. 303to 
Though the names of only three 4 of those confessors have been 
recorded, yet all historians agree that numbers suffered in Britain 
with the greatest constancy and courage. 5 The first martyr is said 
to have been Saint Alban, who lived in the town of Yerulam, which 
had a Boman colony, and who had been converted from paganism 
by a priest to whom he had afforded protection from the general 
persecution. 

Though Constantius, the Boman Governor of Britain, had an 
inclination to favour the Christians, yet it was not in his power to 
dispense with the edicts of the Emperors, and he complied so far 
with them as to demolish the churches. This act, however, was 
compulsory, and it was forgiven on account of his subsequent con- . 
duct when he succeeded to the imperial crown. Though he died 
a pagan, yet he granted to the Christians the free exercise of their 
religion, and protected them from injury or insult. This Emperor, 
it is well known, died at York, and succeeded in securing the 
throne to his son Constantine, a.d. 306. From the accession of Constantino 
Constantine must be dated the re-establishment of Christianity in 
the British islands. The happy change is thus described by Grildas : 

1 'E;n rocs, jc<x,\xfjt,U<x,i 'E^irrccvtxx; tifotis. 2 Theod. torn. iv. Serm. 9. 

3 Some are willing to believe, on the authority of Bede, that under the reign of 
Marcus Antoninus, Lucius, king of Britain, addressed himself to Eleutherus, the Eoman 
pontiff, for teachers to instruct him in the Christian religion. But the traditions of 
the British writers are so blended with fiction, that this fact does not merit insertion 
in the body of our narrative Still there is undoubted proof that the gospel was 
widely extended in Britain before the close of the second century; Britannorum 
inaccessa Romanis loca, Christo veio subdita. Tertul. advers. Jud. c. 7. 

4 St. Alban, Aaron, and Julius. 5 Gildas, sec. 8. Bede, lib. i. c. 6, 7. 

3 



258 



ESTABLISHMENT OE THE SAXON CHURCH. 



A.D. 330. 



Three British 
bishops are , 
present at 
the Council 
of Aries. 



No direct 
evidence 
that any- 
British 

bishops 
were pre- 
sent at the 
Council of 
Nice. 



British 
bishops at 
the Council 
of Arimi - 
niuin. 



" After a persecution of ten years, its authors were taken off by 
remarkable judgments, the Christians were brought back to a state 
of ease, the victorious cross was displayed, the churches were rebuilt, 
and the holy solemnities kept without any disturbance." At that 
period a church was erected at Verulam in honour of Saint Alban, 
and the town was called by his name. 

But the first decisive evidence of the settled condition of the 
British Churches is found in the number of bishops which attended 
the Council of Aries, a.d. 314. The canons of that Council were 
subscribed by Eborius, bishop of York, Restitutus, bishop of 
London, and Adelpius, bishop of the third province, into which 
Britain was then divided, and which was sometimes called Britannia 
secunda} We are not, however, to conclude that there were no 
more than three bishops at that time in Britain, for it was the 
custom of every National Church to send a deputation of its 
prelacy to a General Council. There is every reason to suppose 
that the Christians in Britain were always under an episcopal 
administration, and that the British Church was governed in 
conformity with the rest of Christendom. When the Emperor 
Constantine first summoned a Council, a number of bishops 
appeared from Britain proportional with other provinces of the 
Empire. The apostolical succession of the British bishops was 
undisputed, and their subscriptions were received without any 
question of their authority ; an argument sufficiently convincing 
that their character was as well authenticated as that of the 
other prelates. 

When the Christian Church was disturbed by the Arian heresy, 
and the Council of Nice was convened to compose its divisions, 
there is no direct evidence that any bishops from Britain were 
present. But it must be remembered that the subscriptions to the 
canons of the first Nicene Council, a.d. 325, are confused and 
imperfect even in the best copies ; and there is a strong presump- 
tion, although not a direct proof, that the Bishops of Britain were 
summoned, and that some of them appeared. Eusebius relates, 
that it was the intention of Constantine to procure as large an 
assemblage as possible of bishops from all parts of the Empire, and 
for that purpose his summon was universal. In the epistle of the 
Emperor to the different Churches, it is distinctly expressed that 
there was a necessity for all bishops to meet together, in order to 
settle and determine the true Christian faith. 

There is only a strong presumption of the appearance of any 
British bishops at the Council of Nice, but for their presence at 
the Council of Ariminiurn, a.d. 359, and Sardica, 2 there is equally 
positive evidence as for their attendance at the Council of Aries. 
They subscribed the definitions in favour of Arianism, but their 

1 Sirrnond, Concil. Gallic, torn. i. p. 9. 

* Sulpit. Sever, lib ii. Britain was then comprehended under Gaul. 



PSLAGIA31SM STPPRESSED — SCHOOLS ESTABLISHED. 259 

subscriptions were extorted by the Emperor Constantius, and it is a.d. -i-iO. 
probable that after their return they followed the example of the 
G-allican Church bv re-establishing the Xicene faith, In the time 
of Jovian. Athanasius mentions the orthodoxy of the Britannic 
Churches. 1 

Arianism. it is probable, only slightly infected the British 
Churches ; 2 they were more corrupted by the diffusion of the 
Pelagian doctrine. The errors of Pelagius have indeed been 
charged originally on the British people, and his fierce and 
contentious spirit has been attributed to national temperature. 3 
Several Bishops of Britain were seduced by Agricola, a disciple of 
Pelagius. and Prosper, speaking of the efforts of Caelestine to 
eradicate the Pelagian heresy, says, that it had taken possession of 
the soil from which it originally sprang. 4 Yet the opposition to 
Pelagianism in Britain was vigorous and persevering, and the 
British bishops, distrusting their own sufficiency to encounter it, 
called in the aid of their G-allican neighbours. 5 Lupus and 
Germanus, bishops of great reputation, accepted the invitation, 
and in a conference with the Pelagians at Yerulam, 6 a.d. 446, they Conference 
defended the orthodox faith in so convincing a manner, that they a1 
left Britain, as they supposed, confirmed in the principles of pure 
Christianity. But no sooner had they returned to Gaul than 
Pelagianism again raised its head, and Germanus undertook a 
second voyage to Britain, in company with Severus.' Despairing 
of convincing the Pelagians by argument, Germanus procured 
their banishment by an edict of Yalentinian, and from that time, 
according to the testimony of Bede, the British Churches continued 
sound and orthodox. 

Besides the suppression of Pelagianism, the Gallican bishops 
rendered other aid to the British Church, in the institution of 
schools, and in the introduction of a liturgy, Germanus and 
Lupus were in this instance, as well as in the confutation of the 
Pelagian doctrine, the principal benefactors to our island. They 
consecrated several bishops, and they founded a cathedral at 
Llandaff, over which Dubricius, a disciple of Germanus, was placed. 
The authority of Dubricius was archiepiscopal, but how far it 
extended is uncertain. The celebrated monastery of Bangor, a 
place distant about ten miles from Chester, was founded also 
about that time. 8 It is observed of that monastery, that the 
members of it united learning with devotion, and differed from 
many other monastic institutions in which labour was associated 
with ignorance. 

1 Athan. ad Jot. p. 246. 

2 The charge of Arianism is preferred against the British Churches bv Gildas and 
Bede. Gildas ; Ep. 12. Bede, lib. i. c. 8, 10, 17. 3 Bede, lib. i. c 10. 

* The Pelagians are called the enemies of God's grace, Solum suae originis occnp antes. 
Prosper, v. Coll. 5 Bede. lib. i. c. 17. " 6 Matt. West. 

7 Bishop of Triers, Bede. lib. i. c. 21. 8 Bede, lib. ii c. 2. 



260 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SAXON CHURCH. 

a.d. 500. Such was the faith and learning of the British Church : its 
liturgy and ritual were those of Gaul, derived, as it is said, from 
Saint John, through Irenaeus and Poly carp. 1 It is acknowledged 
by the Romanists that the liturgies of Rome and Gaul were 
different ; and Charlemagne affirms not only that there was a 
difference, but that the Gallican Churches were unwilling to 
change their ancient service, and to practise a conformity with the 
Church of Rome. 2 

Having described the establishment, we must now give an ac- 
count of the declension of the British Church. 

On the subjugation of the island by the Saxons, between the years 
a.d. 449 and a.d. 594, Christianity appears to have maintained 
itself only in Wales and in Cornwall. In "Wales we find the schools 
Church of id ' °? Dubricius and Iltutus ; and also Saint David, whose name is still 
Wales. preserved in the Saxon Church. 3 The tutelary saint of Wales was 

educated under Paulinus, a disciple of Germanus ; he then visited 
Jerusalem, where he received episcopal consecration from the pa- 
triarch ; and soon after his return was held, at a place called 
Llandewy, the famous Synod of Brevy, 4 a general convention of all 
the bishops and clergy of Britain on account of the Pelagian con- 
troversy. Saint David was present at that Synod, and by his 
authority and eloquence suppressed Pelagianism. There also he 
was chosen by general consent Archbishop of Caerleon, the see of 
which he removed to Menesia. 
church of The Church of Cornwall is involved in vet greater obscuritv 

Cornwall. g^ that of Wales * TwQ British bishops, we are told by Bede, 

assisted Wini, bishop of Winchester, at the consecration of the 
Archbishop of York ; but whether they were bishops of the Cor- 
nish Britons, tributary to the West Saxons, or whether they were 
bishops of South Wales, there is not sufficient evidence to deter- 
mine. This much is certain, that the Christians in Cornwall were 
numerous, and that they preserved their ancient rites and usages 
till the latter end of the seventh century. 

1 Spelman, Brit. Cone. torn. i. p. 167. 2 Stillingfleet, Orig. Brit. c. 5. 

3 It is the just complaint of Bollandus, Act. Sanct. that nothing is extant concern- 
ing Saint David, which was written near his own time ; and what is extant is so 
mingled with fable, that it is impossible to find out the truth. Giraldus and John of 
Tinmouth have written his life. An edition of Giraldus has been published by that 
generous patron of learning Sir R. C. Hoare. 

4 Giraldus says it was a convention both of clergy and laity. 

5 "We know scarcely anything of the early transactions of the Welsh or the Cor- 
nish, before the Saxons invaded them, and so united their own history with that of 
the native Britons. Thus two large communities which had been composed each of 
united tribes of Britain, and enlightened by all the rays of the literature of Rome, 
even more enlightened still by the rays of the gospel, sunk back into the darkness of 
their original history ; and they owe the main knowledge of their own annals im- 
mediately after the Roman departure, to those rude barbarians who had come from 
the shores of the Baltic, and whom they had half raised into knowledge, while those 
had wholly depressed them into ignorance. So much heavier is the scale of ignorance 
in man than that of knowledge." — Whitaker, History of the Cathedral of Cornwall, p. 2. 



CHRISTIANITY INTRODUCED INTO KENT. 261 

With the exception of Wales and Cornwall, however, the light a.d. o 10. 
of Christianity was extinguished in Britain, and the natives com- 
plied with the paganism of their Saxon conquerors ; and since those 
conquerors remained in their primitive ignorance for more than a 
century and a half, the ecclesiastical history of England presents 
nothing but a few unconnected traditionary events, till we come 
to the foundation of the Anglo-Saxon Church. 

For a long time the conversion of the Saxon nation had attracted 
the compassionate attention of the Bishops of Rome ; and Gregory 
the Great, who had cherished the wish with more than common 
zeal, at length found that circumstances were favourable to its com- 
pletion. It was at the end of the sixth century of the Christian ^Isfn 16 
era, and about one hundred and fifty years after the first invasion Kent, 
of England by the Saxons, that Ethelbert, the king of Kent, re- 
ceived intelligence that a number of men, clad in a foreign garb, 
and practising several unusual ceremonies, desired to be admitted to 
his presence. This band consisted of Augustine, a monk of the 
newly-founded order of Benedictines, with forty of his associates, 
who had landed in the Isle of Thanet, the same place as that on 
which the Saxons had made their hostile descent. 

At his first interview with these strangers, Ethelbert heard ™ el of G Kent 
them in the open air, on a principle of Druidical superstition, in converted to' 
order to counteract the effects of their enchantments. 1 Augustine Christiamt >- 
delivered the purport of his mission through a Gallic interpreter. 
Its favourable reception had been secured by Bertha, the queen of 
Ethelbert, daughter of Charibert, king of the Franks, and herself 
a. Christian. A place in the city of Canterbury, the capital of the 
kingdom of Kent, was allotted for the reception of Augustine and 
his companions. They entered in solemn procession, preceded by 
two persons bearing a cross of silver, and a painted figure of Christ, 
and singing Litanies as they proceeded, to avert the Divine wrath 
from the unbelievers. As Ethelbert soon avowed his own conver- 
sion, the principal part of his subjects, and especially his nobles, 
followed his example, induced, as it is said, by many signal miracles 
performed by Augustine and his companions, but, undoubtedly, in- 
fluenced by the extraordinary zeal of the missionaries, and the 
sanctity of their lives. The new religion, adopted by a prince so 
respected as Ethelbert, soon spread itself through all that part of 
England which lies south-west of the Humber. 

It is probable that the Druidical order did not at that time JjJJJJ^flJfl 
subsist among the Anglo-Saxons, or else that it had greatly de- progress of 
clined in authority and reputation, since Christianity experienced - m EngTanV. 
little or no opposition from the pagan priesthood. On the con- 
trary, some of that body were among the foremost in embracing 
the new doctrine. But even if Druidism did not then flourish in 



1 Veteri usiis augurio, says Henry of Huntingdon, p. 321. 



262 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SAXON CHUECH. 

a.d. 520. its former vigour, still the religion of the Anglo-Saxons was de- 
rived from a Druidieal source, and the capital objects of their wor- 
ship were trees, stones, the elements, and the heavenly bodies. 

S^t™^!? I n the change of the national religion, care was taken to render 

paganism to _ • • J» • /~*i 1 1 • • 

Christianity the transition from paganism to Christianity as little violent as was 
possible in any change from error to truth. It was a maxim with 
Gregory, under whose auspices the mission was undertaken and 
conducted, that the pagan temples should not be destroyed, espe- 
cially when they were well built, but that the idols having been 
previously removed from them, they should be consecrated by more 
holy rites to better purposes. He was unwilling wantonly to 
offend the prejudices of the people by a profanation of those ob- 
jects which had long been regarded with veneration, and he carried 
his compliance so far as to connive at their ancient sacrifices. He 
ordered that oxen should, as usual, be slaughtered near the churches, 1 
and that the indulgence of ancient festivities should accompany the 
celebration of new ceremonies. Whatever popular customs were 
found not absolutely inconsistent with Christianity were retained. 2 
Even the names of some of the Christian festivals were taken from 
those of the heathens, which had been observed at the same time 
of the year. The names of the days of the week also were retained, 
though derived from pagan deities. 

the first n2s- The prudence of the missionaries in the gradual propagation of 

sionaries. religious truth, and their activity in disseminating their doctrines, 
were joined with a superiority in the arts of civil life. When 
Christianity was first preached in Sussex, that country was reduced 
to the utmost distress, by a drought which had continued during 
three years. The barbarous inhabitants, destitute of any means of 
alleviating the calamity of famine, frequently united in bodies, and 
precipitating themselves from the cliffs were either drowned or 
dashed in pieces by the rocks. Though a maritime people, they 
were ignorant of fishing, and this ignorance probably arose from a 
remnant of Druidieal superstition, which forbade the use of food so 

Wilfrid. procured. In this extremity, Wilfrid, their first Christian preacher, 
collecting nets, plunged into the sea, at the head of his attendants, 
and having first provided sustenance for their famishing bodies, 
he soon disposed their minds to receive his spiritual instructions. 

attended b 7 ^°^ on ^ was ^ e Production of Christianity attended by the 
progress of civilization, but with another blessing, that of liberty. 
The Christian kings sometimes made donations to the Church, of 
lands which they had obtained by conquest from their heathen 
enemies, and the clergy, so soon as they had baptized their new 
vassals, accompanied the sacred rite with manumission. Such eon- 

i Bede, Hist Eccl. lib. i. c. 30. 

2 Deer were at a certain season brought into Sfc Paul's Church in London, and laid 
on the altar, and this custom subsisted until the Reformation. Dugdale, History of 
St. Paul's. 



INTRODUCTION OF THE CLASSICS. 263 

duct naturally endeared the persons as well as the doctrines of their a.d. 530, 
teachers, to a people who saw religion and freedom advancing with 
equal steps. These monks, indeed, deserve the praise of enlarged 
and generous views for the improvement of mankind. In a canon 
wherein the clergy were prohibited from alienating their lands, 
among other charitable exceptions to the rule, it was specified that 
they might do so for the release of slaves by purchase. This duty, 
which they were most careful to practise, they were not less earnest 
in enforcing on then flocks. Whenever they imposed penance, they 
permitted no other commutation than acts of charity and bene- 
ficence. They urged their penitents to the enfranchisement and 
redemption of slaves, and to the repair of public works; and 
they practically taught that no offences could be expiated, unless 
by some act which contributed to the happiness and welfare of 
society. 

The marriage of Ethelbert to a Christian princess, was, as we JJWp? ? f 
have seen, the means of introducing Christianity into his dominions ; m the other 
and similar influences contributed to extend it through the other j^° s n kmg " 
kingdoms of the heptarchy, the respective sovereigns of them being 
generally converted by their queens. Ecclesiastical establishments 
were gradually formed, as they were demanded by the religious 
wants of the people, or as these wants were anticipated by the piety 
of the Saxon princes. Augustine erected the cathedral of Christ 
Church in the city of Canterbury, and founded there a Benedictine canterbury a 
abbey called after his own name ; and having received episcopal metropolitan 
ordination from the Bishop of Aries, he was invested by Pope 
Gregory with jurisdiction over all the Saxon prelates. 1 

As the Anglo-Saxon Church was established through the popes, 
they were naturally solicitous to preserve its dependence on the see 
of Borne, and for the period of a century from its foundation, the 
English primacy was filled by foreigners nominated by the Roman 
pontiffs. By these foreign prelates considerable accessions were 
made to the originally scanty stock of Saxon literature, the largest 
as well as the most valuable of which additions arose from Theodore, Theodore, 
the seventh archbishop of Canterbury, of whom we shall have oc- IrchbLhopof 
casion to speak more fully hereafter. He was a Greek by birth, a Canterbury, 
man of lofty spirit, of enlarged views, and of cultivated talents. 
Unexpectedly raised to his high station, he laboured with singular 
activity to render his attainments useful to the comparatively bar- 
barous people committed to his pastoral charge. He first intro- 
duced the study of his native language into the island ; he brought 
with him a number of books in different faculties, and among them 
a magnificent copy of the works of Homer. Under his patronage 
a school was founded at Canterbury, and thus both the great foun- 
tains of knowledge, the Greek and Latin tongues, were opened in 
England. 

1 Bede, Hist. lib. i. c. 23. 



264 



ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SAXON CHURCIL 



a.d. 540. 



His Peni- 
tentiale. 



Contests be- 
tween the 
Anglo- 
Saxon and 
British 
Churches. 



Augustine 
metropolitan 
of England. 



The labours of Theodore were not confined to the British isles, 
they are recorded in the annals of the general Christian Church 
Among his other works, he reduced to a regular science, that 
branch of the ecclesiastical law which is commonly known by the 
name of Penitential Discipline ; and published his celebrated ; Peni- 
tentiale,' 1 by which the clergy were taught to distinguish sins into 
various classes, both as to their degrees of guilt, and their pub- 
licity. He discriminated the degrees of guilt, according to the 
nature of the offence, its consequences, the intention of the offender, 
the time and place of commission, and the circumstances under 
which it was committed. The ' Penitentiale' likewise contained 
the different modes of proceeding against offenders ; it pointed out 
the penalties suitable to the various classes of transgressions ; it 
prescribed the different forms of consolation, of exhortation, and of 
absolution ; and it detailed in an ample and accurate manner, the 
duty of those who were appointed to receive the confessions of 
penitents. The discipline of Theodore, though he was of Grecian 
extraction, was eagerly adopted by the Latin Churches, and in a 
short time it passed from Britain into all the Western provinces. 
It was universally practised until Penitentiary Discipline assumed 
a new form, under the title of the Canon of Indulgences. 

As vet the Anglo-Saxon Church has been considered onlv in 
regard to its triumph over Paganism, and its beneficial influence 
on the morals and laws of a barbarous nation ; it remains to con- 
sider the contests between the Anglo-Saxon and the ancient British 
Church which still existed in the northern and western parts of the 
island. In these struggles the governors of the Anglo-Saxon Church 
have incurred severe reproach. The Boman mission of Augustine 
has been set forth with so much pomp, and its charitable motives 
as well as its salutarv effects have been so highlv extolled, that the 
conversion of the Saxons has been ascribed solely to the Christian 
zeal of the popes. This is not surprising ; but it is not with equal 
justice that the Saxon historians have reproached their neighbours 
the British Christians with having suffered the invaders to live in 
Pagan darkness, without endeavouring to enlighten then- ignorance. 
It was impossible that any Christians under Saxon oppression could 
have been fit instruments for the conversion of their persecutors, 
and it was unlikely that the conquerors, engaged in foreign and 
domestic wars, should have been favourably disposed towards the 
religion of their vassals. The reproach is therefore unjust and 
groundless. 

It has been already related, that so soon as Augustine had com- 
municated to Gregorv an account of the success of his mission, he 
received from the pontiff the pall, the emblem of nietropolitical 



1 The ' Penitentiale' of Theodore is yet extant, though mutilated and imperfect. An 
edition was published at Paris in the year 1679, by Petit. 



MIEACLE PEEFOEITED BY AUGUSTINE. 265 

dignity. Had the English missionary been contented with the a.d. 550. 
title and office of a bishop, there would have been no room for 
censure ; but that he should aspire to the dignity of a metropolitan 
when he had no suffragan under his jurisdiction, has laid him 
open to the charge of vanity and ambition. He was, it is true, 
solicitous to correct the anomaly, as soon as possible, after his 
return from Aries, and he foimded an episcopal see at Rochester, 
of which Justus, one of his companions, was constituted the first Justus 

-. , ' L bishop of 

Disnop. Rochester. 

Augustine being invested by Gregory with the primacy of Britain, 
and with a jurisdiction over its bishops, together with a commission 
to teach the unlearned, to confirm the weak, and to punish the 
obstinate, applied himself with the greatest anxiety to reduce the 
British bishops to conformity with the Church of Rome. Instead 
of propagating the Christian faith among unbelievers, his chief 
exertions were directed to the extension and enlargement of his 
own authority, and that of his patron Gregory. 

The ofospel having been preached in Britain either by the state of the 

f . • British 

apostles of Christ or by their immediate followers, the British churches. 
Churches had as yet always observed the customs and ceremonies 
prescribed by their first teachers. Their forms were remarkable 
for simplicity, whereas Augustine introduced a number of pompous 
ceremonies borrowed from the Romish ritual. The Britons main- 
taining but little intercourse with the rest of the world, had scarcely 
any communication with the Bishops of Rome, and considered them 
as no more than diocesan bishops, or at the highest as patriarchs, 
on whom their own Church had no dependence. But Augustine, 
out of the abundance of his gratitude to that see from which he 
derived his own authority, sought to gain from the British prelates 
an acknowledgment of the supremacy of the Roman pontiff over 
the whole Christian Church. For that purpose he secured the co- Conference 
operation of Ethelbert, and succeeded also in obtaining a conference. Augustine 
with the British bishops on the borders of the county of Worcester. 1 ^f ti T ^ e 
The Synod being assembled, Augustine proposed first, that the bishops. 
Britons should embrace the unity of the Catholic Church, and then 
co-operate with him and his clergy in converting the pagan natives. 
This proposition, however reasonable at first sight, was not received 
with approbation ; Augustine was unable to prevail on the British 
bishops to admit the slightest change in their ancient customs. 
The historians of this period relate, that, finding his arguments 
ineffectual, he caused a blind man to be introduced into the assem- 
bly, whose restoration to sight, after useless similar attempts by the 
Britons, he effected by his prayers. But even against this miracle its results. 
the Britons were impenetrable, and all the concession which 
Augustine could obtain was, that they would take into considera- 

1 The place has been since called Augustine's Oak. 



anchorite. 



266 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SAXON CHUECH. 

a.h. 560. tion the propositions which he had submitted, and would come to 
a determination in a future Synod. 

Advice of an The Britons having returned from the conference, and consider- 
ing that their obstinacy might draw on them the resentment of 
Ethelbert, applied themselves to a consideration of the propositions. 
Not being able to come to any conclusion among themselves, they 
solicited the advice of an anchorite of great reputation for sanctity 
and wisdom : and besought him to give an opinion on this difficult 
question ; whether they ought to quit the customs and usages of 
their ancestors, and adopt those of Augustine ? His answer was, 
that he saw no reason why they should adopt any alterations in 
their religion, simply on the bare request of a stranger ; but since 
the essence of religion consisted in love and unity, not in forms, if 
the stranger were a holy man and sent from God, they should follow 
him. This answer occasioned a second question, by what marks 
they could discern whether he were a holy man or not ? The 
answer of the anchorite was worthy of his reputation : he told 
them to judge the character and pretensions by the conduct of the 
man who supported them ; if he were meek and humble, then they 
might conclude that he was the disciple of Him who had taught 
men to bear his yoke ; but if the stranger were haughty and 
arrogant, then it was certain that he could not be sent from God, 
whatever might be his pretensions. The Britons still unsatisfied, 
demanded what were those marks of gentleness and condescension 
by which they might discern of what spirit the stranger was ? 
" His spirit," the sage replied, " you will discern in this ; let him 
and his companions first come to the Synod, and if on your 
approach he shall rise up in condescension and love, and greet you. 
then look upon him as a servant of Christ, and submit to whatever 
he shall ordain ; but if he shall contemptuously refuse to rise up to 
you who are the greater number, then let him see that you despise 
his insolence, and disclaim his authority." 1 

After some time had been consumed in these deliberations, the 
British bishops, seven in number, with Dinoth, abbot of Bangor, 
and some other learned men, consented to meet Augustine at a 
second conference. The archbishop and his companions were 
seated in the place of meeting before the Britons entered, and as 
Augustine did not rise from his seat to receive them, they acted 
in conformity with the advice of the hermit, and opposed all his 
overtures of union with great spirit and perseverance. After a 
violent contest, the archbishop addressed them in these words : 
" In many things you act contrary to our customs as well as to 
the usages of the Catholic Church ; notwithstanding, if you will 
submit to my authority in these three matters, namely, in observing 
the Easter festival after our manner, in using the same rites and 

i Bede, Hist. Eccl. lib. ii. c. 2. 



conference. 



DEFEAT OF AUGUSTINE. 267 

ceremonies with the Church of Kome, and in joining with us to a.d. 600. 
convert the Saxon pagans ; in all other things which you do con- 
trary to our customs, we will bear with you." To this demand, 
the British bishops answered, that they would not comply with 
any one of the three particulars, neither would they acknowledge 
him for their archbishop. Augustine, fired with indignation at 
this refusal, answered them with threats, and plainly intimated, 
that if they would not accept peace from their brethren, they must 
expect war from their enemies ; and if they would not preach the 
word of life to the Saxons, they should themselves suffer death. 

Such is the account delivered by Bede of this Synod, but the Speech of 
British writers, as may be learned from Leland, give a different abbot of 
view of the transaction. He relates, that Dinoth, abbot of Bangor, Ban s° r > 
disputed with great ability, and spoke at great length, against sub- 
mission to the authority of the Bishop of Borne, or the Bishop of 
Canterbury, and that he defended the authority of the Archbishop 
of Caerleon, or Saint David's. "You propose to us," he said, 
" obedience to the Church of Borne ; are you ignorant that we 
already owe a deference of love and charity to the Church of God, 
to the Bishop of Borne, and to all Christians ? Other obedience 
than this to the pope we know not, and this we are always ready 
to pay. But for a superior, what need have we to go so far as 
Borne, when we are governed under God by the Archbishop of 
Caerleon, who hath authority to superintend our Churches and our 
ecclesiastical affairs." The Abbot of Bangor went so far as to 
censure the pope, for permitting the usurpation of Augustine, 
telling him and his companions that it was their duty if they were 
good Christians, to restore their unjust and tyrannical power into 
those hands from which they had received it. 

Thus the project entertained by Augustine, of establishing his 
power as metropolitan over the whole British island, was defeated. 
But the Saxon historian has added, that Ethelfrith, king of 
Northumbria, sent a large army into Wales, and not only gained 
a signal triumph over the British near Caerleon, but slaughtered 
the ecclesiastics, and particularly the monks of Bangor. If this 
event happened during the life of Augustine, and at his instigation, 
he must, in addition to his acknowledged haughtiness and ambition, 
be charged with cruelty and revenge. 

Having related the state of the Anglo-Saxon Church at the Death of 
death of Augustine, a.d. 611, we proceed next to describe its ugustl 
advancement, under Lawrence, who succeeded him in the see of Lawrence 
Canterbury, and whom he had consecrated for that end, a short ^bishop 
time before his death. In the scheme of ecclesiastical government £^£ anter ~ 
which Gregory had transmitted, he directed that the primacy 
should be removed from Canterbury to London, at the death of 
Augustine ; and Mellitus, one of the companions of Augustine, 
had been consecrated bishop of that see. But the scheme of 



268 



ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SAXON CHURCH. 



A.D.612. 



His diligence 
in preaching 
and exem- 
plary life. 



Mellitus, 
bishop of 
London. 



Death of 
Ethelbert 



Eadbald. 



Gregory was found to be impracticable, and his authority was 
disavowed. The city of London was not yet converted to Christi- 
anity, and therefore could not be the see of the metropolitan of 
the Anglo-Saxon Church. Ethelbert, likewise, while he lived, 
would not permit the removal of the primacy from his own king- 
dom, nor the subjecting of his bishops to the jurisdiction of a 
Bishop of London. 

Lawrence, therefore, was both the second archbishop of Canter- 
bury, and the second primate of the Anglo-Saxon Church ; and he 
not only imitated the vigour of his predecessor, but supported his 
authority by the assiduity of his preaching, and the strictness of 
his life. He resumed the project of reducing the Britons under 
the papal authority, but without success ; and he then wisely 
transferred his exertions towards an object, by success in which 
they were fully rewarded. By the interest of Mellitus, the con- 
version of the East Saxons inhabiting the counties of Middlesex 
and Essex was happily accomplished. He appeared at the court 
of Sebert in his episcopal character, and that prince, together with 
a multitude of his subjects, embraced the Christian religion and 
were baptized. The Abbey Church of Westminster was built on 
the site of a heathen temple dedicated to Apollo, and was con- 
secrated by Mellitus to the honour of God, and dedicated to Saint 
Peter. Another stately edifice, intended for the cathedral, was 
erected on the ruins of a temple of Diana, and was consecrated to 
Saint Paul. 1 

Neither Ethelbert nor Bertha long survived Augustine, and on 
the death of the former, a.d. 616, paganism revived in the kingdom 
of Kent, and threatened the destruction of the British Church. 
Eadbald, the son and successor of Ethelbert, either had never been 
converted to Christianity, or, as soon as he possessed the crown, 
had renounced it. His morals were licentious, and the cause of his 
apostacy, or his aversion to Christianity, is said to have been an 
incestuous connection which he had formed with his father's wife. 
The archbishop had remonstrated with him in a manner becoming 
a Christian teacher, but his reprimands were received with disgust. 
The King was a latitudinarian in principle as well as a libertine in 
practice, and he encouraged his subjects to restore the pagan 
idolatry. Notwithstanding the zeal and assiduity of the archbishop 
of Canterbury, of the Bishop of Rochester, and of the clergy in 
general, the defection of the people from Christianity was great. 
The calamities of the Christians were increased by the death of 
Sebert, king of the East Saxons, for notwithstanding his own 
recent conversion, his three sons, who jointly succeeded him, had 
not sincerely renounced idolatry. They kept their profession, 
indeed, secret during the life of their father, but he was no sooner 



i Bede, Hist. Eccl. lib. ii. c. 3. 



CONVERSION OP THE NORTHUMBRIANS. 269 

dead than they openly avowed paganism, and gave their subjects a.d. 620. 
also liberty to profess it. A persecution of Christianity com- persecu- 
menced, and Mellitus was commanded to leave the kingdom of the Christianity 
East Saxons. ™ the 

The condition of the Church of Kent, although depressed, was the Eas? ° 
not, like that of the East Saxons, destroyed, and thither Mellitus Saxons - 
fled for protection. After a consultation with the archbishop of Me }^ tus fi 
Canterbury and the Bishop of Eochester, it was concluded that an in Kent. 
open resistance against the general apostacy would be fruitless, and 
that their personal safety demanded their immediate return to 
Eome. Mellitus and Justus, bishop of Eochester, immediately Meffitua and 

Justus i*p£irG 

departed, and thus deserted the cause in which they had engaged, into France. 

Lawrence also resolved to follow them, and on the evening before 

his intended desertion of his pastoral charge, he caused his bed to 

be brought into the cathedral, purposing to take his rest there on 

the last night of his stay. But according to the legend which ^^jj" 

Bede has transmitted to us, Saint Peter appeared to him in a form Lawrence, 

more appalling than that of an unsubstantial vision, for, after 

reproaching the cowardice of the primate, the apostle inflicted on 

him a severe flagellation. On the next day, Lawrence appeared 

before the King, bearing the marks of the discipline which he had 

undergone in the preceding night, and having given an account of 

the manner in which he had received his castigation, the King was 

so affected, that he changed both his faith and morals, and became Conversion 

a Christian and a new man. 1 ° Eadbal<L 

Eadbald being converted by this miracle or stratagem, sent to Mellitus 
France to recall Mellitus and Justus to their dignity and duty, bishop of " 
Those fugitives returned, a.d. 619, about a year after their flight, Canterbury, 
and the Bishop of Eochester was reinstated in his see by the King 
of Kent. The inhabitants of London having refused to admit 
Mellitus, Eadbald afforded him an honourable retreat in Kent, till 
the death of Lawrence, when he succeeded to the primacy. Mellitus 
continued in that station about five years, without much exertion 
for the advancement of Christianity, and at his death, Justus, a.d. Justus, 
624, the only surviving bishop consecrated by Augustine, was raised iS bishop of 

to the archbishopric. Canterbury. 

With the exception of the abortive attempt to plant the Anglo- 
Saxon Church in the kingdom of the East Saxons, its limits had 
as yet been bounded by the kingdom of Kent. It next extended conversion 
itself into the kingdom of Northumbrian Northumbria at that o/tneking- 

j. ° ■ -- , dom of 

time was governed by Edwin, the most powerful prince in the Northumbria 
Saxon heptarchy, whose proposed alliance was eagerly accepted by 
Eadbald. Their connection was to be cemented by a marriage Marriage of 
between Edwin and Ethelburga, the sister of Eadbald ; but as f f^ibiS^ 
Edwin was still a pagan, Eadbald insisted that it was not lawful a.d. 62s. 

i Bede, Hist. Eccl. lib. ii. c. 5, 6. 



'0 



ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SAXON CHURCH. 



Paulinus. 



Edwin dis- 
posed to 
embrace 
Christianity 



a.d. 630. for his sister, who had been educated in the Christian faith, to 
contract a marriage with an idolater. Edwin readily stipulated 
not to oppose the religion which the princess had embraced, and 
to grant liberty of worship both to herself and her retinue ; and 
more than this, he added that if, on examination, he found the 
Christian faith more worthy of belief than that in which he had 
been educated, he was inclined to conversion. 

On such a satisfactory basis, the treaty of marriage between 
Edwin and Ethelburga was completed ; and when the princess left 
her brother's court for that of Edwin, she took with her Paulinus, 
one of the missionaries who had been sent by Pope Gregory, and 
who had been consecrated to the episcopal order by Justus. 1 At 
his first arrival in Northumbria, Paulinus seems to have made 
little progress in converting either the King or his subjects ; but 
after Ethelburga had been delivered of a daughter, and Edwin had 
been dan^erouslv wounded by an assassin, these two events altered 
his prospects. The King was inclined to believe that the prayers 
of Paulinus had contributed towards the happy parturition of 
Ethelburga ; and his own imminent peril also had disposed his 
mind to serious reflection. As a proof of the change in his senti- 
ments, he consented that his infant daughter, together with eleven 
other persons of his court and family, should be baptized by Pau- 
linus ; 2 and since the assassin who had attempted his life was 
employed by the King of Wessex, he promised to renounce ido- 
latry, if the God of the Christians would avenge him of his 
enemy. 

As soon as Edwin had recovered from his wound, he marched 
at the head of a large army into the dominions of the King of 
Wessex ; although he returned crowned with victory, yet he 
deferred the entire performance of his vow. 3 He at once, indeed, 
disengaged himself from idolatry ; but when the queen and Pau- 
linus urged him to proceed farther, he answered that the adoption 
of a religion different from that in which he had been educated 
was a matter which required a solemn and mature deliberation. 
Eor some time he continued in a state of suspense, or rather of 
neutrality, until Pope Boniface attempted to remove his doubts. 
The pontiff wrote to Edwin, pointing out the folly of the pagan 
worship ; 4 and to Ethelburga also, exhorting her to renew her 
arguments and persuasions with the King, and never to remit her 
prayers to Heaven for a blessing on her endeavours. But for a 
long time the epistles of Boniface, the entreaties of Ethelburga, 
and the instructions of Paulinus, were equally ineffectual. Edwin 
was not to be won unless by conviction, and he examined the evi- 
dences of the new religion with candour and impartiality. 



His delibera 
tion on the 
subject 



1 Bede, Hist. Eccl. lib. ii. c. 9. 



2 Ibid. 



s Saxon Chron. 28. 



* Bede, Hist. Eccl. lib. ii. c. 10. 



CONVEKSION OF THE PAGAtf CLERGY. 271 

At length lie avowed his assent to the truth of Christianity, a.d. 640. 
influenced by the dexterous application which Paulinus made either 
of an event which we have already related in the earlier part of the 
King's life, or, as the monkish historian would persuade us, by the 
intervention of a positive miracle. Paulinus having heard the cir- His dream, 
cumstances of a vision seen by Edwin, when a wanderer and a 
guest at the court of Redwald, one day entered the king's apart- 
ment as he was pursuing his meditations on the opposing religions, 
and, advancing with a solemn air, imitated the action of the ima- 
ginary figure, and placed his hand on the head of the Northum- 
brian prince. "Do you understand," inquired Paulinus, " the 
meaning of this token ?" Surprised at the question, yet recollect- 
ing the divine oracle, Edwin is said to have prostrated himself 
at the feet of Paulinus, who, preventing this act of humiliation, 
reminded the King in a tone of authority, that it was his duty to 
obey the injunction of God, by submitting himself to the religion 
which that Grod had revealed. Edwin immediately resigned him- Yields his 

1/ o assent to 

self to the direction of his spiritual guide, and yielded an implicit Christianity. 
assent to the Christian faith. 1 

How much of this supernatural appearance ought to be attri- 
buted to the credulity of the age, it is unnecessary in this place to 
inquire. The fact which now demands relation is the manner in 
which Edwin procured the conversion of his subjects. He had held 
frequent conferences with Coin, his pagan high priest, on the argu- 
ments which Paulinus urged in favour of Christianity, and Coin, 
perceiving from these conversations the bias of his sovereign, 
resolved not to oppose his wishes. When Edwin, therefore, sum- 
moned a Council to inquire the sentiments of his nobles concerning 
the new religion, and to propose that if they participated in his ixscussion 
own feelings they might all be baptized together, Coifi, in the j^t in his 
order of precedence, rose first, and thus addressed his prince and ^f nage ~ 
the assembly : — " You see, King, what is now preached to us. . 
I declare to you most truly, what I have most certainly expe- 
rienced, that the religion which we have hitherto professed con- 
tains no virtue at all, and as little utility. No one of all your 
court has been more attentive than I have been to the worship of 
our gods ; and yet many have received far richer benefits, far 
greater honours, and have prospered more in all that men transact 
or pursue than I have. If, then, on due inquiry, you shall perceive 
that those new things which are preached to us will be better and 
more efficacious, let us hasten to adopt them without any delay." 

The King, pleased with this address, applied to the priest next 
in dignity, who enforced the opinion of Coifi in the following man- 
ner : — " The present life of man, king, seems to me, if compared 
with that after period which is so uncertain to us, to resemble a 

i Bede, lib. ii. c. 12. 



272 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SAXON CIIURC11. 

a.t). 650. scene at one of your wintry feasts. As you are sittinpr with vour 
ealdormen and thegns about you, the fire blazing in the centre, 

and the whole hall cheered with its warmth, and while storms of 
rain and snow are raging, without ; a little sparrow flies in at one 
door, roams around our festive meeting, and passes out at some 
other entrance. While it is among us, it feels not the wintry tem- 
pest ; it enjoys the short comfort and serenity of its transient stay ; 
but then plunging into the winter from which it had flown, it 
disappears from our eyes. Such is here the life of man. It acts 
and thinks before us, but, as of what preceded its appearance 
among us we are ignorant, so are we of all that is destined to 
come afterwards. If, then, on this momentous future this new 
doctrine reveals an v thing more certain or reasonable, it is in mv 
opinion entitled to our acquiescence." 1 

The other royal counsellors exhibited similar dispositions. Pau- 
linus was immediately summoned, and having stated the argu- 
ments in favour of Christianity, Coifi declared aloud that there 
was no further room for doubt. ;i Formerly," he said, ;i I under- 
stood nothing that I worshipped. The more I contemplated our 
idolatry, the less truth I found in it. But this new system I 
adopt without hesitation, for truth shines around it, and presents 
to us the gifts of eternal life and blessedness. Let us then, O 
king, immediately anathematize and burn the temples and altars 
which we have so uselessly venerated." To show the sincerity of 
his conversion, or the warmth of his zeal, the high priest, on being 
asked who would be the first to profane the idols and their altars, 
answered, " I will ; as I have led the way in adoring them through 
my folly, I will give the example of destroying them in obedience 
to that wisdom which I have learned from the true God." Placing 
himself at the head of the other priests, Coifi, armed with a sword 
and lance, and mounted on one of the king's chargers, proceeded 
to the heathen temple, hurled his lance at the idol, and assisted in 
burning his sanctuary to the ground. 2 

Edwin, having declared his conversion, was baptized at York, 
with two sons by a former wife, and Hilda his niece ; and all the 
nobility and courtiers followed his example. His ]ove for Christ- 
ianity incited him to propagate it beyond his own dominions ; and 
his efforts were first directed to Eorpwald, king of the East Angles, 
the son of Redwald. Sigebyrht, the brother and successor of 
Eorpwald, not only contributed to the dissemination of Christianity 
in East Anglia, but applied himself so closely to the study of it 
as to be called by the chronicler " most learned." 3 

» Bede, lib. ii. c. 13. 

2 The scene of this event was a little to the east of York, beyond the river Derwent, 
at a place, in the time of Bede, called Godmunddingaham, and still called Godmund- 
ham, or the home of the mund, or protection of the gods. Bede, lib. ii. c. 13. 

3 Flor. Wig. 233, 234. 



CIRJECH IN WESSEX FOUNDED. 273 

Edwin, having enjoyed a long reign of prosperity, was destined a.d. 640. 
to experience a reverse of fortune. Five years had not elapsed Edwin slain 
after his conversion before he was slain in battle, and paganism ^ a ^' 
once more overspread his dominions. Of the Northumbrian Christ- 
ians some fell with their prince on the field, and others were put 
to death. Ethelburga and her children, accompanied by Pauhnus, 
were compelled to % for safety into the kingdom of Kent. 

The affairs of the Northumbrian Church remained in a calami- Oswald, king 
tous state, until Oswald ascended the throne. He first restored Smbriaf" 
external peace, and then endeavoured to re-establish Christianity. A>1) - 634 - 
But instead of recalling Paulinus, who was now bishop of Koches- 
ter, he sent for a Scottish bishop called Aidan to convert and in- Aidan, a 
struct his subjects. Aidan having received episcopal consecration bishop, sens 
engaged with alacrity in the undertaking. His success was indeed Q^ d 
great, yet not greater than his assiduity merited. He not only 
instructed the pagans in the principles of Christianity, but he was 
an eminent example of holiness and charity. At his desire the 
King of Northumbria, without any regard to the appointment of 
Gregory or the succeeding popes, removed the archiepiscopal see 
from York to a small isle at the mouth of the river Lindis, known Appointed 
by the name of Holy Island. Here Aidan discharged all the im- Holy island. 
portant duties of a bishop, diligently preaching the word of God, 
and exhibiting a model of primitive simplicity totally unlike the 
pomp of the Romish missionaries. The see of York was for many- 
years neglected ; its bishops were reduced to the state of diocesan 
bishops, and went into Scotland to receive consecration. 

Having thus related the foundation of the Northumbrian Church, S? 03 ^ 0I 
we now turn to that of Wessex, which was planted about this time 
by the care of Birinus. He came into England already invested Birinus. 
with the episcopal character, and with the sanction of the Bishop 
of Rome. It was his original design to preach the gospel in the 
interior of the country where no religious instructor had preceded 
him ; but happening to land in the territories of the King of Wes- 
sex, and finding that they were overspread with paganism, he 
thought it unnecessary to go farther. Here then he entered on 
his office, and performed it with effect. The King of Wessex was 
tributary to the King of Northumberland, and the two princes 
therefore joined in a grant to Birinus of the city of Dorchester, Bishop of 
near Oxford, where an episcopal see was founded, and where ne^Oxford 
Birinus continued to edify his converts both by instruction and 
example until his death. 

Leaving the Church of Wessex, the order of time demands that Church of 
we should revert to the Church already founded in the kingdom of Angles, 
the East Angles. It has been mentioned, that Eorpwald had ?i g ^ y f r 5£ 
embraced the Christian faith, but that he had been murdered by East Angles. 
his subjects, and his people had relapsed into idolatry. Sigebyrht, 
his brother, had also been compelled by a faction to retire into 



274 



ESTABLISHMENT OE THE SAXON CHURCH. 



His conver- 
sion. 



Felix. 



A.D. 650. France. A prince of his endowments could not without profit 
inhabit a country in which civilization had far advanced. I It- 
devoted himself to study, and his recreation was found in the cor- 
respondence and conversation of literary men. Convinced of the 
vanity and falsehood of paganism, he embraced Christianity as a 
revelation worthy of God. One of his chief companions and in- 
structors was Felix, a Burgundian bishop, from whom he received 
the sacred rite of baptism. No sooner was Sigebyrht enabled to 
return to his own country and kingdom than he endeavoured to 
introduce among his subjects the learning which he had imbibed 
in France, and above all other things to establish the Christian 
faith. Whether he sent for Felix, or whether Felix came volun- 
tarily into England, it is not material to determine. As soon as 
that Bishop arrived, he applied to Honorius, then archbishop of 
Canterbury, either for advice in the exercise of his sacred function, 
or for authority to assume episcopal jurisdiction. Honorius ap- 
proved and promoted the design of Felix, who was received at the 
court of Sigebyrht with the highest marks of respect, and the city 
of Dummock, now called Dunwich, in the county of Suffolk, was 
assigned for his episcopal residence. The King and the Bishop 
co-operated in the erection of schools, and some historians ascribe 
the foundation of the university of Cambridge to the munificence 
of Sigebyrht. 

From the Church of the East Angles we must recur to that 
of the East Saxons. Mellitus, as we have seen, had been expelled 
from London, and when he became archbishop of Canterbury, he 
used his utmost endeavours to recover his ancient flock from their 
apostac}^. But his efforts were vain, and it was reserved for the 
English and Scottish clergy to accomplish what had been left un- 
finished by the missionaries of Rome. Between Oswy, king of the 
Northumbrians, and Sigebyrht, the third king of the East Saxons, 
the existence of a firm friendship occasioned frequent interviews. 
During those meetings Oswy frequently turned the conversation 
to the errors of Paganism, and urged his friend to inquire into the 
grounds of the religion in which he had been educated. 1 The in- 
quiry was followed by the conversion of Sigebyrht to Christianity, 
and the new convert was baptized by Finan, bishop of the North- 
umbrians. Chad, a Northumbrian priest, and an Englishman by 
birth, had long been employed as a missionary in the midland 
counties, and he was induced to transfer his spiritual labours to 

chad, bishop the kingdom of the East Saxons. He received consecration from 
Finan, assisted by two other bishops, and was placed in the epis- 
copal see of London, from which Mellitus had been expelled forty 
years before. 

The next kingdom which was converted to Christianity was the 



Bishop of 

Dunwich in 
Suffolk. 



Church of the 
East Saxons. 



of London. 



i Bede, Hist. Eccl. lib. iii. c. 22. 



CO^YEBSIOjS" of THE SOUTH SAXONS. 275 

powerful State of Mercia. Penda, its king, was remarkable for his a.d. 660. 
cruelty and pride ; and during a long reign had been actively op- Church of 
posed to a religion so alien to his own temper as Christianity. ^ Ier " a - 
But that tyrant was at last brought to tolerate though not to pro- 
fess the gospel. 1 He had a son endued with qualities the reverse 
of his own ; and the young prince being enamoured of a daughter 
of the King of jSTorthumbria named Atheleda, embraced the religion 
of his future queen. He returned to the dominions of his father 
accompanied by Atheleda and four priests ; and the whole king- 
dom of Mercia was in consequence brought under the Christian 
faith. 

Last of all, we turn to the South Saxons inhab' tine the counties Church of 

fnp Son in 

of Surrey and Sussex, the latest in then" conversion to Christianity. Saxons. 
The long continuance of that kingdom in idolatry, must be attri- 
buted to its subjection to the King of Wessex, and its ultimate 
conversion to the persecution of Wilfrid, bishop of York, who fled Wilfrid, 
thither for safety. Edilwalch its king, although educated in pagan- 
ism, had married Edda, a Christian princess, and no sooner did 
Wilfrid appear at his court, than he encouraged the Bishop to 
undertake the conversion of his subjects. Wilfrid proceeded to Bigh f 
establish a Church, and by the influence which he possessed with scoisey. 
the King, a bishopric was founded, and a cathedral built at Scoisey. 

Having thus described the manner and the instruments by which E cc } e 5— ~ !(m 
Christianity was established in every one of the States of the Anglo- of the Anglo- 
Saxons, it is necessary to observe, that the kingdoms of Kent, of fo*° s n kiRg " 
the West Saxons, and of the East Angles, derived their faith solely 
from Rome, while the remainder of England, containing the whole 
territory from the Friths of Forth and Clyde to the Thames, was for 
the most part indebted for religious instruction to the Scottish or 
Irish missionaries. On that account, there was a great diversity in 
the customs and ceremonies of the different Churches, which soon 
gave rise to factions. Every prince established such an ecclesiastical 
polity as suited the extent of his dominions ; and with the excep- 
tion of Kent, no kingdom on the first settlement of its Church had 
more than one episcopal see, with a bishop independent of any 
metropolitan. 

It has been seen that in the conference between Augustine and Religious 
the British bishops, he promised an indulgence in many of their par 
ancient rites, on condition of their submission to the Romish method 
of celebrating the festival of Easter, and of administering the sacra- 
ment of baptism. But it appears that both the Britons and the 
Scots had a liturgy distinct from that of Rome, the former using 
the liturgy of the Grallican Church, the latter one peculiar to them- 
selves. 2 The whole island may therefore be said to have been 
divided into two parties ; on one hand the Scottish clergy and all 

1 Bede, lib. iii. c, 21 2 Called tlie Cursus Scotorum. 



a.d. 634. 



276 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SAIOH CHUBCH. 

a.d. 680. their adherents, on the other hand the French and Italian e 

siastics with their followers. The Church of Kent, which espoused 
the side of Rome, and asserted the superiority of its own primate, 
had the principal share in the contest. It was soon discovered 
that there could be no external communion between the two 
parties, without a submission of one or the other, or without a 
mutual recognition of independence. The British and Scottish 
Churches, therefore, could not possibly accede to any terms of 
communion with the Church of Kent, unless by submitting to the 
archbishop of Canterbur} T , and of consequence to the see of Some. 
Aidfnd joint The manner in which those Churches, which had hitherto 
Northum- vigorously opposed the Romish missionaries, at length yielded their 
bria, independence is now to be related. Submission was first made by 

the Northern Churches, whose country had once been the nursery 
and support of the Scottish ecclesiastics. Aldfrid, the natural son 
of Oswy, king of Northumbria, and a partner in his father's throne, 
had been brought over to the Church of Rome by Wilfrid his pre- 
ceptor, a warm defender of the Catholic Easter and of the eccle- 
siastical tonsure. The seeds of dissension being thus sown, were 
not long in coming to maturity. Since the two great parties fol- 
lowed different cycles in finding Easter, it sometimes happened, 
that while the King was celebrating the Paschal festival with joy. 
the Queen was engaged in the humiliation and austerities of Lent. 
Discord in the Church soon created a division in the State. The 
Romish party possessing stronger zeal and greater activity, soon 
prevailed on Oswy to yield ; and if a judgment may be formed from 
the event, the assembly which he called to discuss the matter, was 
summoned rather for the purpose of defending his own reputation 
than of determining the question at issue. The way being thus 
prepared, a Synod or conference took place at the monastery of 
wiiitby. Whitby in the county of York. At the head of the Xorthem 
Coleman English party were Oswy himself, Hilda, abbess of the monastery, 
bishop of Coleman, bishop of the Northumbrians and successor of Finan. to- 
bria espouses gether with all the Scottish and English ecclesiastics, secular and 
im-tyaganis^ ^onastie, who had received ordination in the Northern Churches. 
the church On the other side appeared Enfleda, the queen of Oswy, Aldfrid. 
his natural son and partner of his dominions, Wilfrid, the preceptor 
of Aldfrid, Agilbert, bishop of the West Saxons, with Agathon, a 
priest in his retinue, Roman, Enfleda' s confessor, and James the 
deacon, an assistant of Paulinus, who superintended the Churches 
of York. The venerable Chad, who having been educated by the 
Scottish bishops adhered to their view of this question, was allowed 
to be the arbiter of both parties. 

The King opened the meeting in a short speech, reminding all 
who were assembled, that since they professed to serve the same 
God, and to expect the same heavenly kingdom, they ought to 
observe the same rule of life, and a uniformity of worship. It was 



Svnocl of 



DECISION OE THE GALLICAX CO]S T TEOTEEST. 277 

their business, therefore, to inquire which side of the question was a.d. 680. 
supported by the soundest arguments, and to acquiesce in the evi- 
dence which might be laid before them. Having said this, he 
commanded Coleman to state the manner in which the Church of 
Borne celebrated Easter, and to defend his own conformity with 
that Church. Coleman replied, that the manner in which he cele- 
brated Easter was that which he had received from those who sent 
him into England, and which they received from their forefathers. 
n This rite," he said, " is the same which, according to ecclesiastical 
history, was celebrated by Saint John and all the Churches under 
the government of that blessed apostle.' 3 

When Coleman had enlarged on this argument, the King com- 
manded Agilbert to declare the manner of his observance, whence 
it originated, and by what authority he still conformed to it. Agil- 
bert declined the task on account of his ignorance of the English 
tongue, notwithstanding there was an interpreter, and he requested 
that his disciple Wilfrid should be permitted to be his substitute. 
The King consented, and Wilfrid spoke to this effect : — " The man- Wilfrid 
ner of celebrating Easter practised by us, we ourselves saw generally coteman! * : 
practised at Rome, where the apostles Peter and Paul lived, taught, 
suffered, and were buried. The very same observance we saw in the 
rest of Italy and in France. Moreover, we are informed, that in 
Africa, Asia, Egypt, and Greece, the inhabitants, however differing 
in language and manners, universally celebrate Easter at the same 
time with us. So that the inhabitants of two remote islands, con- 
tend with a foolish obstinacy against the whole world." 

Since the aim of Coleman and his party was rather to defend 
their own usages than to convince their opponents, they persisted 
in appealing to the authority of St. John and Columba. But Wil- 
frid, after justifying St. John, asked Coleman with an air of triumph, 
whether he presumed to put Columba in the balance against St. 
Peter the prince of the apostles ? What answer Coleman made to • 
this question historians do not inform us, but they proceed to re- 
late, that the King, struck with Wilfrid's inquiry, decided in favour 
of the Romish observance of Easter. This great point being set- 
tled, there yet remained another, concerning which the two parties 
differed quite as widely, namely, the Ecclesiastical tonsure. But 
of this controversy we know nothing more than that the Roman- 
ists were equally successful in it. 

The King having delivered his decision, Coleman resigned his Coleman 
bishopric in disgust, and the nobility and clergy who adhered to S^ri&* 
him expressed great dissatisfaction at the event. Coleman retired 
into Ireland, his native country, and by this retreat gave to his 
adversaries all the advantage which they desired. Tuda, a deserter 
to the Romish party, succeeded to the bishopric, and dying a few 
months after, Wilfrid, the opponent of Coleman, was appointed 
bishop of J^orthumbria by the King's solicitation. 



278 ESTABLISHMENT Or THE SAXOX CirCECH. 

a.d. 670. In this manner a way was open for the submission of the British 
Wilfrid anc [ Scottish Churches to the see of Borne. The event was. how- 
ever, m some degree retarded by the relapse of the Northumbrian 
court into its ancient usages, while Wilfrid was absent in France ; 
but it was accomplished soon afterwards by the succession of Theo- 
dore to the metropolitan see of Canterbury. Egbert, king of Kent. 
shortly after he ascended his throne, consulted Oswy on the neces- 
sity of filling the primacy then vacant, and of making a provision 
for the episcopal succession of the English Church. After mature 
deliberation the two princes resolved to appoint an Englishman to 
Enfus^marf ^ ^ e °^ ce ? anc " 1 m pursuance of their resolution fixed on Wighard. 
a priest of the Church of Kent. Thus elected, he was sent to Borne 
Recommend- with commendatory letters both from Oswy and Egbert, and was 
primacy. 6 entertained there with respect and kindness. But while the cere- 
His death, monial for his consecration was preparing, he died of a plague, 
which was likewise fatal to most of his retinue. This incid 
while it proved a disappointment to Oswy and Egbert, furnished 
Yitalian the pontiff with a favourable opportunity of appointing 
the head of the English Church by his own single authority. 
Without any communication with the two Saxon princes, he de- 
termined to send over a prelate of his own choice : and at first he 
Adrian, a fixed on Adrian, a Neapolitan monk, who was skilled both in the 
refuses^be' Greek and Latin tongues, but the humble monastic declined the 
iSacy situation. On the urgent demand of the pontiff, Adrian recom- 
Kecom- mended Theodore, whom we have before mentioned, a native of 
dore dS The °" tarsus m Cilieia, and the pope accepted the recommendation, on 
condition that Adrian would accompany his nominee to England. 
Two motives operated with the pope in making this stipulation ; 
the one, that Adrian might be useful in propagating the Christian 
religion ; the other, and the more powerful, that Theodore might 
be restrained from introducing the customs or dogmata of the Greek 
Church into the British Isles. 
Theodore, Theodore, the most learned of all the prelates who had as yet 

archbishop of possessed the see of Canterbury, had no sooner arrived, than he 
Canterbury, applied himself to secure the favour and assistance of the several 

a. d 664 

Saxon princes. For that purpose he travelled over the greater 
part of England, instituted a visitation of its Churches, introduced 
the Bomish custom of celebrating Easter, and brought the people 
to an entire conformity with the Bomish Church. One of the 
principal objects of his visitation seems to have been the case of 
Wilfrid, who had distinguished himself at the Synod of Whitby, 
and in consequence had been appointed bishop of Xorthumbria. 
Wilfrid de- Yet he was not permitted to enjoy this bishopric, but had retired 
P^ ve S^!5 e to his own monastervof Bippon. Many circumstances encouraged 
Northmn- Theodore to attempt the restoration of Wilfrid. Chad, one of the 
disciples of Aidan, who was settled in the bishopric, was an emi- 
nent example of apostolic piety, and indefatigable in the exercise 



union or the saxon Cheches. 279 

of his pastoral functions. When he was reprimanded by Theodore a.d. G70. 
for usurping the rights of Wilfrid, and for receiving consecration Theodore 
from the Bishop of Winchester, he answered with an uncommon restoma<m. S 
modest}', that he always thought himself unworthy of the episcopal 
character ; that he undertook it not by his own choice, bat at the 
command of his superiors ; and that if there was any defect in his 
title, he would cheerfully resign his trust and retire. Theodore, 
with all his haughtiness, was overcome by such humility, and dis- 
suading Chad from relinquishing his episcopal function, said that 
he would overlook the defect of title and remedy it. Wilfrid was Chad -p/" 
restored to the Northumbrian bishopric, and Chad was soon re- bishopric of 
called from the monastic seclusion to which he had retired, to in- Llclmeid - 
vestiture with the bishopric of Lichfield. 

While advances were thus rapidly making; towards a union of The * 301-6 

t . «> o encourages 

the Saxon Churches under the jurisdiction of the archbishop of learning! 
Canterbury, Theodore endeavoured to prove that this union would 
operate to the public good, and not to his own aggrandizement. 
He proposed, therefore, that the youth should be instructed in the 
Greek and Latin languages, in geometry, music, astronomy, arith- 
metic, and other useful branches of learning ; and he associated 
Adrian with himself in the prosecution of his scheme. Having 
incited the Saxons to a love of learning by his own instruction and 
example, he sent for foreign masters and established schools. So 
assiduous was his labour, and so successful were his plans, that 
many Saxons could soon speak the Latin and Greek tongues with 
as much fluency as their own. A school for Greek was founded 
in a village of Wiltshire, called from this circumstance Greek-lade, 
and afterwards corruptly Cricklade, the teachers of which repairing 
to Oxford, are supposed to have laid the foundation of that uni- 
versity. 

While the qualities of prudence and benevolence must be ascribed 
to Theodore, it must not be concealed that he was ambitious and 
overbearing. He well knew that teachers brought, from Rome 
would practise the usages of that Church, and that, possessing 
greatly superior attainments to the British and Scottish ecclesias- 
tics, they would control, if not eradicate, their opposition. The 
intended union of the Saxon Churches was thus accelerated. Not- 
withstanding the death of his two friends, the Kin^s of Kent and 
North umbria, Theodore had so far ingratiated himself with their 
successors, and also with the other Saxon princes, that he obtained 
their consent to a general assembly or Synod, which met at Herad- S™ drit , 
ford, a.d. 673, a place in Hertford shire, probably that which is 
now the principal town of the county. 1 Besides the archbishop 
there were present Bisi, bishop of the East Angles, a delegate 
from Wilfrid, bishop of Northumbria, Putta, bishop of Rochester, 

1 Camden, Britannia. 



280 ESTABLISHMENT OE THE SAXO>" CHURCH. 

a,d. G70. Leutherius, bishop of the West Saxons, and Winfirid, bishop of the 

Mercians. These were all the bishops at that time in England, 
and they had all been raised to their stations by the influence of 
Theodore. 

When the assembly was met, Theodore exhorted them, in the 
name of Christ, to advise with unanimity and to determine with 
sincerity. He enjoined them to observe inviolably those ordi- 
nances which had been canonic-ally decreed bv the fathers. Then 
recommending peace, charity, and godly unity, he asked them 
severally whether they consented that the canonical decrees should 
be maintained. The bishops severally consented, and Theodore, 
Ten canons producing a collection of canons from the ancient Councils, in which 
of Theodore. | 10 j iac j mar k ec i ten which he thought necessary in the existing 
state of the English Church, urged that they should be inviolably 
observed. The first canon, which was indeed the foundation of 
the union, was conformity in the observance of Easter. The 
second directed that no bishop should usurp or invade the diocese 
of another. The third made it unlawful for any bishop to give 
unnecessary trouble to any religious house. The fourth provided 
that monks should not, unless for sufficient cause, remove from one 
religious house to another ; and the fifth laid the same prohibition 
on the secular clergy as to their dioceses. The sixth forbade a 
bishop or a priest to exercise his function out of his diocese with- 
out permission of the bishop of that diocese. The seventh pro- 
posed an annual Synod. The eighth regulated the priority of 
bishops. The ninth regarded the augmentation of the number of 
bishops. The tenth regarded marriages, that .none should be 
allowed contrary to the canons, that incest should be severely 
punished, and that the liberty of divorce should be restrained. 

Such were the acts of this Synod ; and that no contention might 
afterwards arise concerning their meaning, nor any false transcripts 
be published, they were committed to writing by a public notary, 
and confirmed by the subscription of every bishop present. This 
being done, the archbishop pronounced the following sentence and 
dismissed the assembly : — u Whosoever shall endeavour to infringe 
these our definitions, conformable to the decrees of ancient canons, 
and confirmed by our unanimous subscription, let such an one know 
that he is separated from our communion, and from the exercise 
of all sacerdotal offices." 

The Eomish writers assert that this Synod was convened by 
the authority of the pope, and that Theodore presided in a lega- 
tine capacity ; but the assertion is not borne out by the facts, for 
Bede has attributed it to the sole authority of Theodore. It may 
rather be said, that the Synod was called with the consent of the 
Saxon princes, and that to their consent Theodore was also indebted 
for his metropolitan dignity. It may fairly be concluded, that 
the consent of the Saxon princes originated in reasons of conve- 



3YX0D OP HEKADFOED, 281 

nience and policy, not in a belief in the right of the Eoman pontiff a.d. 680. 
to any supremacy over the Saxon Church. But whatever were 
their motives, and whatever were the grounds on which the union 
was formed, we have in the Synod of Heradford the first assembly 
of the Saxon Church under a common metropolitan. 

Though no other terms of communion were mentioned in this 
Synod than the Romish observance of Easter, yet it appears from 
the ' Penitentiale ' of Theodore that the bishops who had been con- 
secrated by the Scots or Britons were not to be permitted to exer- 
cise their function without an imposition of hands from, what he 
calls, a Catholic bishop. This regulation, ungrateful as it must 
have been in itself to the British and Scottish clergy, was aggra- 
vated by the unyielding strictness with which it was enforced. 

Soon was his authority questioned and opposed, and he adopted Opposition to 
the most violent measures to support it. The first who felt the 
effects of his displeasure was Winfrid, bishop of Lichfield, who had 
been consecrated by Theodore himself, and had been present at the 
Synod of Heradford. He was deprived for nonconformity, and 
availing himself of the usual retirement of a monastery, he quietly 
retreated and passed the remainder of his life in religious contem- 
plation. About two years after this deprivation Wilfrid also was Deprivation 
condemned to the same fate. His disgrace, if it may be so called, Theodore. : 
might partly arise from resistance to the authority of Theodore, 
but that was not the only cause. His secular pomp had long 
drawn on him the jealousy of the Northumbrian court, and even 
of Ecgfrid the king ; and his influence in persuading the queen 
consort to quit her regal state for monastic retirement had aggra- 
vated Ecgfrid' s dislike into open hostility. A complaint was pre- 
ferred to Theodore, who came bv the Kind's desire into Northum- 
bria to hear and judge it. Some historians have ventured to assert 
that the archbishop was bribed to support the interest of the King 
and to decide against Wilfrid. But it is certain that Theodore 
willingly consented to his deprivation, and not contented with this 
act of power, that he divided the diocese of York into three por- 
tions, and erected a new see at Holy Island. 

The deprivation of Wilfrid occasioned a remarkable event in the ^?Mdto 
history of the Anglo-Saxon Church, namely, an appeal from the Pope 
decision of the archbishop of Canterbury to the Eoman pontiff, As ' atho - 
a.d. 678. Wilfrid, accompanied by a number of his followers, 
repaired to Eome, at the time when Agatho I. was employed in 
arranging the sixth General Council against the Monothelites. It 
is more probable that Wilfrid went thither voluntarily than that 
he was summoned, but it is an unquestioned fact that he presented 
a petition of appeal to the pontiff. 1 It set forth the injustice of 
his treatment, that he had been expelled his diocese without being 

1 Cermvald, a monk, appeared as the advocate of Theodore. 



282 



ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SAXON CIIUHCH. 



A.T). 680. 



His restora- 
tion decreed 
by the pope. 



Theodore 
refuses obe- 
dience to the 
decree. 



Wilfrid is 
imprisoned 
by Eegfrid. 



Jurisdiction 
of the see of 
Rome not 
acknow- 
ledged in 
England. 



convicted of any crime, and that Theodore, unsanctioned by any 
other authority, either civil or ecclesiastical, had divided the bish- 
opric of York, and appointed a bishop to each division. The peti- 
tioner referred himself wholly to the apostolic see, and was willing 
to acquiesce in its decision with all imaginable submission. Wil- 
frid told his wrongs with such eloquence and earnestness, that 
Agatho and his counsellors were of opinion that he ought to bo 
restored to his bishopric, and if the interests of religion demanded 
that the see of York should be divided, yet that the coadjutor 
ought to be appointed by Wilfrid. 1 The cause being thus decided, 
he was required to return, to show the decree of the pontiff and 
his council to the King of Northumbria and the archbishop of 
Canterbury, a command which the triumphant prelate obeyed with 
alacrity. 

Notwithstanding that Theodore had been educated at Rome, 
and had owed his advancement entirely to the favour of the reign- 
ing pontiff; notwithstanding, also, the recent and formal union of 
the Saxon and the Romish Church promoted by himself ; yet he 
refused obedience to the sentence restoring Wilfrid. As for the 
King of Northumbria, he was so far from acquiescing, that he 
upbraided Wilfrid for having obtained the decree by fraud or 
bribery. Pretending to suspect, or really suspecting, that it was 
an imposture, he called together his nobles and clergy to examine 
into its authenticity. When it was found impossible to entertain 
any reasonable doubts on this subject, instead of obeying the sen- 
tence, he was advised to punish Wilfrid by imprisonment. The 
Bishop was accordingly committed to a most severe confinement, 
his property was confiscated, and his attendants were dispersed. 
In this miserable condition he languished nearly a year, and at 
length obtained his liberty in consequence of the solicitation of 
the King's aunt, and on conditiom that he should never again set 
his foot in the kingdom of Northumbria. 

Throughout these proceedings against Wilfrid there is the 
strongest evidence that the Bishops of Rome possessed no acknow- 
ledged jurisdiction over the Anglo-Saxon Church, and that the 
deference usually shown towards them was limited by policy and 
convenience. With regard to doctrine, the homology of England 
to the metropolis of the Western Church was unreserved : and in 
the heresy of the Monothelites, which at that time divided the 
Christian world, Theodore appeared on the side of Rome with 
promptness and vigour. When we consider the depressed state of 
learning in his age, and the great abilities of Theodore, there can- 
not be any reason for wonder that Agatho should have invited him 
to Rome, in order to write against the prevalent heresy. Declin- 
ing the invitation, he was not less zealous in opposing the Mono- 



i Bede, lib. iv. c. 12-19, 



Edd. 21-31. 



SY^OD OP HADEIELD. 283 

thelites in the country committed to his spiritual care. With the a.d. 680, 
consent of the Kings of Northumbria, of Kent, and of the East 
Angles, he convened a Synod at Hadfield, a.d. 680, for the purpose Synod at 
of opposing its progress. Hadfield. 

The conduct of Theodore in that Synod fully justified the repu- 
tation which he had obtained. The whole kingdom of Mercia, 
comprising the midland counties of England, had then only two 
bishops ; Wilfrid was in prison ; and the whole number of bishops 
assembled could not have exceeded ten. Yet the proceedings were 
conducted with the greatest decorum and discretion. Not only 
was the heresy of the Monothelites condemned, but a permanent 
standard of doctrine and discipline was established for the Saxon 
Church. The Council being assembled, Theodore, who presided, 
delivered a summary of the Christian faith, as it was laid down in 
the Scriptures, in the creed, and in the General Councils. The 
bishops present having declared their unanimous assent to this 
exposition, proceeded to make a particular confession of their faith 
with relation to those doctrines which had been questioned or 
opposed by heretics, testifying the agreement of the Synod in the 
decisions of the Catholic Church, as set forth in the first five 
General Councils. And, lest this declaration might be thought 
too general, or liable to evasion and misinterpretation, the S}mod 
expressed its special assent to the decrees of the Council called by 
Pope Martin against the Monothelite heresy. Theodore having 
brought the Synod of Hadfield to the issue which he intended, its 
decrees were drawn up and signed by all the bishops present. 

The Christian religion being now generally professed throughout 
England, Wilfrid, who had been banished from Northumbria, 
employed his labours between the South and West Saxons. But 
Ecgfrid having been killed by the Picts, and Aldfrid, his brother, 
who had been Wilfrid's pupil, 1 having succeeded, the ambitious 
prelate was inspired with a sanguine hope of regaining his former 
station. He had found that the authorities of the Bishop of Borne 
were little regarded in England, and therefore he prudently deter- 
mined to show a deference to the authority of the archbishop of 
Canterbury, which he had formerly opposed. The services which 
he had rendered to the Church among the South and West Saxons 
since his exile had softened the resentment of Theodore, and a 
reconciliation was sought by the primate. A conference between Reconcma- 
these two bishops took place at London, in the presence of Ercon- Theodore 66 
wald, bishop of that see. Theodore made the first advances, and wnfrid ' 
acknowledged his fault, and implored forgiveness. " I am warned," 
he said, " by my present age and infirmities, that my death will 
not be long delayed; I beseech you graciously to forgive me." 

1 Aldfrid is thus described by Alcuin : — Qui sacris fuerat studiis imbutus ab annis 
astatis prima, valido sermoDe sopbista acer et ingenio, idem ut simul atque magister. 
-De Pont. 748. 



284 



ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SAXO>~ CHURCH, 



Death of 
Theodore 
a.d. 695. 



a.d. 700. Desirous to prove the sincerity of his contrition, he offered to 
resign the archbishopric to his former rival, since he knew no one 
so worthy of governing the Church. 

Nothing could be more praiseworthy than the temper which 
these reconciled bishops displayed. Wilfrid received the apology 
with candour and frankness, forgiving all past injuries and offering 
assurances of future friendship. To accept the archbishopric with- 
out the sanction of a General Council was a thought which Wilfrid 
could not entertain, and he only wished to be reinstated in his 
bishopric of Northumbria. Theodore cheerfully wrote letters of 
recommendation to Aldfrid, and to Elfrida, the King's sister ; and, 
in consequence, Wilfrid was invited to return. Bosa, bishop of 
York, was removed to the bishopric of Holy Island, at that time 
vacant by the resignation of Cuthbert, and Wilfrid was appointed 
bishop of York. With the episcopal revenues, he also repossessed 
the monasteries of Hexham and Eippon. 

In the year following this memorable reconciliation, Theodore 
died, but unfortunately his death did not put an end to the tur- 
bulence or the troubles of Wilfrid. No sooner was he placed in 
the see of York, than he experienced opposition on every side,. His 
contentious spirit alienated his sovereign and pupil Aldfrid, who 
unable to bear his imperious temper, drove him from the see of 
York, and from the kingdom of Northumbria. Wilfrid sought 
refuge in Mercia, and obtained the bishopric of Leicester, which, 
however, he had not possessed long, before he provoked Ethelred, 
king of Mercia, to banish him. 

Not contented with having drawn upon himself the enmity of 
two princes, he engaged in a contest with Brithwald, the successor 
of Theodore, at the time when he most needed the protection of 
an ecclesiastical superior. He had been banished from the see of 
York almost eleven years, when a Council was called by Brithwald, 
at the suggestion of Aldfrid and Ethelred, to investigate his con- 
duct. At first he refused to appear before the Synod, being appre- 
hensive of his personal safety, but having been promised a safe- 
conduct, he presented himself. His deportment was so improper, 
that a general sentence of deprivation was pronounced by the arch- 
bishop, though the other bishops implored that the sentence might 
be mitigated. He was allowed therefore to return to his monastery 
of Eippon, on condition that he would cease to exercise his epis- 
copal functions. It was natural to expect that terms so humiliating 
would not only be rejected by Wilfrid, but would heighten his re- 
sentment. He protested vehemently against the proceedings of 
the Synod, reproached the bishops with ingratitude, and threatened 
to appeal to the pope. The Synod exhibited great firmness, but 
Aldfrid displayed a violence equal to that of Wilfrid. He even 
proposed to deliver the refractory prelate to summary death, but 
the bishops insisted on the safe-conduct, and Wilfrid was permitted 



Wilfrid is 

deprived by 

an English 
SvnocL 



ALDEEID RESISTS HOME. 285 

to depart. Old as lie then was, his spirit was unbroken, and he a.d. 710. 
hastened to Rome. Presenting himself before the pope, he set He appeals 
forth the injustice of his treatment, and implored redress. ifc toKome - 
happened that a Provincial Council was at that time sitting at 
Rome, and two legates from Brithwald appeared before it, to vin- 
dicate the proceedings of himself and the Anglo-Saxon bishops. 

"Wilfrid on his own behalf, and the two legates on the part of ^f^g 
Brithwald, submitted the case to the pope in Council. The chief, decided at 
or rather the only accusation preferred against Wilfrid was, that &vonr. m h ™ 
he had refused to submit to the authority of an English Synod. 
Wilfrid stated in his defence, that he had never refused obedience 
to the archbishop of Canterbury, unless his decisions were contrary 
to the Apostolic see. The appeal itself, as well as the defence, in- 
clined the pope to favour Wilfrid, and he was pronounced innocent. 
Instead, however, of issuing any decree, the pope wrote to the 
Kings of JSTorthumbria and Mercia, desiring that a Synod might be 
called by the archbishop, in which Wilfrid should be present ; 
that the Bishops of York and Hexham should be summoned ; that 
after hearing all parties they should endeavour to settle the quarrel 
at home, but that in case it could not be adjusted, the disputants 
should attend at Rome, and the cause should be again referred to 
the pope and his council. 

With this declaration in his favour, it might be supposed that w i ]fr \ d re - 
Wilfrid would have hastened home, but as he had once before ex- England, 
perienced the danger of returning with a favourable determination 
of the pontiff, he requested that he might be permitted to remain, 
and to pass the short remainder of his life at Rome. This request 
was not granted. He was enjoined to return, under the specious 
pretext that his presence was necessary to the English Church and 
kingdom, and he therefore took a reluctant leave, and tardily 
obeyed. 

No sooner had he returned than he directed his application in- His reception 
the first place to Brithwald, on whom he so far prevailed as to and the King 
promise a revision and mitigation of the sentence of deprivation 0I Mercia » 
passed in the former Synod. He then went to the court of the 
King of Mercia, and as Ethelred his foe had quitted his palace for 
a monastery, Cenred the reigning prince was not unwilling to favour 
his pretensions. The only obstacle remaining to his restoration 
was the King of Northumbria, and he sent two ecclesiastics to Ald- 
frid, soliciting that he might be allowed to attend that prince with 
the letters and determination of the Romish pontiff. The solicita- ancTbY 41d . 
tion was refused ; Aldfricl, with the advice of his council, declared frid. 
that he would not reverse the decisions of an English Sjmocl, in 
consequence of any letter from the Apostolic see. 1 But the King 

1 " As you choose to call it," was the language of Aldfrid to the two ecclesiastics. — 
Eddias, Yit, Wilfrid, c. 41. 



286 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SAXON CHURCH. 

a.d. 720. having been shortly afterwards seized by a violent sickness, and 
thinking that his malady was a divine judgment in consequence 
of his disobedience to the commands of the pontiff, made a vow to 
restore Wilfrid in case of his recovery, and in case of his death be- 
\Tifrli° f queathed the performance of it to his successor. After a lingering 
a.d. 723. illness, Aldfrid died a.d. 728, and his son being an infant, the crown 
was usurped by Eudulph. Wilfrid was well known to Eudulph, 
and confidently expected his immediate recall ; but he was de- 
ceived, for in reply to his overtures, he was sternly told, that if he 
did not leave the kingdom of Northumbria within six days, all his 
friends and followers should be put to death. 1 

The reign of the usurper, however, was short, and Wilfrid having 
some interest in the council of Osred, the lawful heir, succeeded in 
obtaining a Synod to revise the proceedings against him. The place 
Synod of of its assembly was near the river Nidd, where Brithwald agreed 
to meet him. The archbishop, after a short pra} r er for peace, 
stated the manner in which Wilfrid's cause had been determined 
at Home, and read the epistles from the pontiff to the Kings of 
Northumbria and Mercia. He avowed his own reconciliation with 
Wilfrid, and recommended that the deprived bishop should be re- 
instated. But when the letters of Pope John were produced, and 
obedience to the pontiff enjoined under the penalty of degradation, 
the assembled bishops appealed to the authority of their own Pro- 
vincial Council, and refused to alter its decisions. Nevertheless, 
what they refused to do in compliance with the commands of the 
Roman pontiff, they did from another motive. The abbess Elfleda 
declared the vow made by her brother in his last sickness, a de- 
claration which was confirmed by the regent of Northumbria, and 
the bishops after first withdrawing for the purpose of deliberation, 
Wilfrid re- came to the following resolution: — That the Bishop of Hexham 
bishopric o/ should be removed to the see of York vacant by the death of Bosa, 
Hexham. anc j ^^ "Wilfrid should have the bishopric of Hexham, together 
with the abbey of Blppon. Farther than this, they refused to go 
either in compliance with the solicitations of Elfleda and the re- 
gent, or in regard of the memory of the deceased King. 
His death. Restored to a part of his honours and emoluments at the age of 

seventy-six, Wilfrid did not long enjoy them. About four years 
after he repossessed the bishopric of Hexham, he died at Oundle, in 
Northamptonshire, an abbey of which he was the founder, and his 
body was removed to Eippon, where it was buried with great 
funeral pomp. Notwithstanding his deprivations and exile, the 
magnificence of his living and his munificent foundations, he left 
great wealth, which he directed to be divided into four portions. 
The first and largest part he bequeathed to the churches of St. 
Mary and St. Paul in Eome for masses to his soul ; the second 

1 Eddias, Vit. Wilfrid. 



axon 
Church. 



STATE OF THE SAXOl* CHUKCII. ' 287 

part he gave to the poor; the third to the monasteries which he a.d. 730. 
had founded ; and the fourth to his friends and servants. 

Conjointly with the death of Wilfrid may be noticed a scheme ^^Jf {* 
of the Anglo-Saxon Church, which subsisted independently of the s^ 
heptarchy or octarchy, though the dioceses were commensurate 
with the different sovereignties. It consisted of seventeen bishop- 
rics under one metropolitan. Of these, the kingdom of Kent had 
two, Canterbury and Rochester ; the kingdom of the East Saxons 
one, the bishopric of London ; the kingdom of the East Angles 
was divided between the bishoprics of Dunwich and North Elm- 
ham ; the bishoprics of Winchester and Sherborn comprehended 
the kingdom of the West Saxons ; the extensive kingdom of Mercia 
had not less than live bishoprics, and these were fixed at Lichfield, 
Leicester, Sydnacester, Worcester, and Hereford : the entire king- 
dom of the South Saxons was within the diocese of Scolsey ; and 
lastly, the kingdom of Northumbria had four sees, York, Holy 
Island, Hexham, and Withern. 

In this state stood the Anglo-Saxon Church at the death of 
Brithwald, and such is its state as described by Bede. These 
bishops were subject to the jurisdiction of one metropolitan, till 
Egbert presided over the see of York. His brother being king of archiShop 1 
North umbria, he took the advantage which this alliance gave him, of York. 
in conjunction with personal merit, and obtained the pall, the 
characteristic of archiepiscopal dignity. Yet though some of the 
successors of Egbert obtained the same honour, and the archiepis- 
copal title was conferred on them, it is doubtful whether the arch- 
bishopric of York was completely settled until after the Norman 
conquest. 

At the latter end of the eighth century, the whole kingdom of Mercia with- 
Mercia was taken out of the archbishopric of Canterbury by OfTa. theIee f o? m 
That restless prince resolved to make his Church as well as his Canterbury 
kingdom independent. For that purpose, he obliged his bishops 
to yield obedience to the see of Lichfield, the metropolis of his 
kingdom, and he obtained from pope Adrian a pall for its bishop. 
Besides the natural inquietude and ambition of his temper, OfTa 
had an antipathy to Lambert, the archbishop of Canterbury, and 
accused him to the pope of encouraging Charlemagne to make a 
descent on England. Whether this were a true charge is uncer- 
tain, but not long after the separation of Mercia from the juris- 
diction of the see of Canterbury, Offa invaded the kingdom of the 
East Angles, and subverted its ecclesiastical as well as its political 
government. He placed the whole kingdom under the archbishop 
of Lichfield ;* by which means the Bishops of Hereford, Worcester, 

1 Higebert, bishop of Lichfield, was selected by Offa to be the metropolitan ; but 
the pall was not conferred till the time of Adulph, Higebert's successor. — Malms, sec. 
15. Speiman, Cone. p. 302. 



288 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SAXON CHURCH. 

a.d. 1200 arid Sydnacester, in addition to the Mercian bishops of Elmhatn 

Archbishop- and Dunwich, became suffragans of that see. Lambert strenuously 

field. 1Cn " opposed the diminution of the jurisdiction of the ancient see of 

Canterbury ; he sent several appeals to Rome ; but the affair having 

been settled by OfFa and the pope, he was obliged to yield. He 

even quitted his see and retired into France, till he was brought 

back by the persuasions of the celebrated Alcuin. 1 

Conclusion. Thus we have traced the establishment of the Anglo-Saxon 

Church, as well as the progress and extent of its submission to the 

see of Rome. Its future history will be resumed hereafter, and the 

changes will then be described which took place in its polity, before 

and at the Norman Conquest. 

1 The reader is referred on this subject to "Wharton's Anglia Sacra. 



( 289 ) 



CHAPTEE XVIII. 

THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF MONASTICISM. 

The love of retirement is natural to contemplative minds. The a.d. 100, 
indulgence of this desire is not necessarily an evidence of unsocial how mom*. 
humours or ascetic feeling, the results of egotistic selfishness. On ^^ imgl1 
the contrary, it may conceal an excess of sympathy with human 
interests and the highest devotion to the nobler duties of the soul. 
Among the Greek philosophers — Pythagoreans, Platonists, Stoics, 
and Cynics- — a distinction between esoteric and exoteric doctrines 
early obtained ; and we find many of these great thinkers incul- 
cating, advocating, and, in some instances, practising a more rigor- 
ous disciplinary code of morals than that which they regarded as 
sufficient to regulate the lives of " the meaner herd of ordinary 
men." In Egypt and Judea we trace the existence of similar 
ideas among the Theraputse and the Essenes, from whom, doubt- 
lessly, Christian monachism is a lineal descendant. The morality 
taught by Christ was pure and lofty ; the temptations which way- 
lay the converts to new views, while their habits are unconfirmed, 
are very numerous ; and the enthusiasm of proselytes is often so 
ungovernable that we do not need to conjure up uncharitable 
thoughts to account for the origin of monastic institutions. It is 
true that we are taught to " abstain from even the appearance of 
evil," but it is equally true that we are to "resist the devil" and 
"stand against" his wiles. The heroism of Christianity requires 
that we should not only suffer but do. So long as the Church 
was actively aggressive, and engaged in propagating its living 
truths among all people, there could be little excuse for deserting 
the militant life of a proselytizer. But when the work was accom- 
plished, and the Church had become a fact, recognized by " the 
world's great master," and incorporated by him with the institu- 
tions and laws of his world-empire, the energies hitherto expended 
and the zeal employed in the work of conversion were in want of 
some new excitement. The world and the world's cares were found 
burdensome and tempting ; and many, mistaking the true glory of 
their mission, relinquished the world, instead of abandoning the 
evil in themselves and opposing the evils which surrounded them. 
This amabilis insania, soothing, flattering, deceptive in its earlier 
stages, at length resulted in a spurious, unhealthy asceticism, mor- 
bid alike in its susceptibilities and in its pride. Nor is it a marvel 
that the contemplative, the care-worn, the withered in heart, the 
morose, the dissatisfied, and the disgusted should, each for reasons 



290 THE EISE AND PEOGEESS OF MOSTASTICIfl 

A.D. 200. of his own, seek an asylum from the wretchedness of existence, and 
wish to spend "the lees of life" in thoughtful quietude, unembit- 
tered reserve, or, at least, in uncalamitous isolation, if not in fer- 
vency of worship. The hermit's hut or the monk's cell at least 
hid their woes from the eyes of others, or permitted the unavailing 
utterances of grief to hurst from them unheard or unheeded, except 
by those who felt the brotherhood of sorrow. Good, perhaps, in 
itself, no method more capable of being turned to "base issues" 
could have been devised than this communal segregation. 

^°M« Anthony (a.d. 251-356), a Theban, has had the notoriety of 

eliminates . , t/ /. r» i • i • i 

Monachism. oem^ the originator of monachism almost unanimously conferred 
on him, although one Paul is said to have retired during the 
Decian persecution into a remote mountain, and there to have 
lived as an ascetic, on visiting whom Anthony is represented as 
having first become enamoured of anchoretic seclusion. Although, 
however, Anthony may not have been the earliest Christian her- 
mit, he undoubtedly first made seclusion popular and dignified. 
He was a disciple and friend of Athanasius, patriarch of Alexan- 
dria, whose patronage and approbation helped to fill the desert 
places with Christian fugitives. The rocky ranges of Thebais, the 
sands of Libya, and the banks and islands of the Nile, besides the 
desert of Nitria, were early colonized by thousands of monks. 
Pachomius, abbot of Tabenne, a colony of fourteen hundred monks, 
founded nine male and one female monastery, and was able to 
assemble, at the Easter religious festivals, fifty thousand persons 
who had subjected themselves to his disciplinary code. Oxyrin- 
chus, a city of Egypt, possessed a population of ten thousand 
female and twenty thousand male monastics and twelve churches. 

Athanasius introduced monasticism into Rome ; and Hilarion, a 
Syrian youth, inspired by the enthusiasm of Anthony, became a 
monk himself and led thousands more to embrace the same kind 
of life. The name and fame of Basil the Great is in all monas- 
teries. He relinquished the archbishopric of Csesarea. a.d. 350, 
retired to Pontus, and prescribed strict uniform rules on all monas- 
tics dwelling in the East. Martin of Tours, a.d. 316-397, who 
has attained the fourfold character of soldier, hermit, bishop, and 
i&vJ'drJ sm saint, is equally eminent in the West. The famous Jerome, a.d. 
331-420, boldly and successfully advocated monasticism in Eome, 
and induced persons of each sex and every station to emigrate from 
Europe into the secluded districts of the Holy Land. The extraor- 
dinary religious fervour and zeal from which monachism derived 
its recruits had hitherto been confined to the laity ; but by the 
persuasion of Augustine, bishop of Hippo, a.d. 354-130, the clergy 
of his diocese bound themselves to observe the chief canons c: 
monastic life, viz. seclusion, celibacy, and poverty ; and hence ori- 
ginated a class of clerical monks and influences of great weight and 
moment in the history of the Church. 



BENEDICT S " EULE, 291 

At this period an epidemical desire for anehoretism seems to a.d. 460. 
have raged. Barren isles, desert wastes, distant and seldom-visited 
shores, and even the sandy accumulations in the deltas of rivers 
received inhabitants, and the voice of prayer and the song of praise 
were uttered in "the solitary places." 

But with the popularity of monachism abuses were early ^oiSsticism. 
blended. "Avarice stimulated zeal. Zeal consecrated avarice." 
The greed of gold in many overpowered all other affections, and 
flattery and guile were often employed to win over the wealthy to 
throw in his lot with the brotherhoods into w T hich the monks had 
begun to constitute themselves. The prayers of these communi- 
ties were sold ; and by the most specious arts they wound them- 
selves into popularity with every class, but most particularly with 
kings and nobles, whom they w r ere not slow in assuring that they 
could only succeed in those enterprises which were entrusted to 
the management and control of the superior members of the monk- 
ish fraternities. With pride and wealth came sloth ; and the 
monasteries at length became the refuge of the tax-grudger, the 
cowardly, the lazy, the oppressed, or the disaffected. The lofty 
ideal in which monachism took its rise became debased, and devo- 
tion and duty had become the scoff and scorn of many of those 
who professed to have retired from a world lying in wickedness. 
The licentiousness of monks was proverbial. Reform w^as wanted, 
and it was not long before a reformer arose. Benedict, a.d. 480- ^ n ^ di , < r t ' s 
543, of Nurcia, saw the evil and proposed a remedy. Dissatisfied 
with the prevalence of profligacy, he withdrew from the monastery 
of which he had been made abbot, and took up his abode in a con- 
cealed cavern in the desert of Sublaco. A number of enthusiasts 
followed him, and in a short time founded twelve monasteries. 
One of these was built on the site of a temple to Apollo on Monte 
Cassino, a.d. 528. There he composed his ' Regular Monachorum,' 
and founded the order which yet bears his name. In these he 
prescribed, as the fitting work of monks, prayer, worship, and the 
reading of religious writings, pious meditation, the education of 
youth, useful manual labour, and all such exertion as tended to the 
comfort of the brethren or was needful for the management of the 
monastery. He rebuked extravagance in dress, gluttony, intem- 
perance, and sensuality. Laziness was to be specially avoided, so 
much so that even the elderly and the sickly were to employ such 
time as their state permitted in copying the writings of the illus- 
trious fathers, the Sacred Scriptures, &c. It was by these means 
that the Benedictine order became the grand primitive model in 
imitation of which all subsequent orders were instituted. 1 In the 
labour of revolutionizing the monastic system he was greatly aided 

1 An abstract of the Benedictine Rule is given in Fosbroke's British Monachism, 
|4to, London, 1817, p. 109. See also Histoire des Ordres Monastiques, Paris, 1718, 
torn. t. 



292 THE EISE AND PEOGEESS OF M01TA8TICI8M. 

a.d. 800. by St. Maur in France, St. Placide in Sicily, Gregory the Great in 
Italy, and some time afterwards in Frisia by St. Wilbrod. During 
the two succeeding centuries this order spread its influence and 
power throughout the greater portion of Christendom. Many 
learned persons belonged to the Benedictines ; but the excessive 
manner in which they have been extolled proves that they were 
exceptions to, not samples of, the fraternity. 

tionofleverai Where there is no single recognized authority, discipline is nei- 

new orders, ther easily nor effectivelv maintained. Though the Benedictine 
monks vowed obedience to the ' Rule,' there was no general execut- 
ive to enforce" submission. The various monasteries were under 
the control of the bishops in whose diocese they happened to be 
planted. When the fire of enthusiasm had expired, and the letter, 
not the spirit, of the : Rule' was followed, discipline became relaxed, 
and as a consequence depravity, corruption, and ignorance increased. 
Benedict of Aniana re-inculcated the true purposes of monasticism ; 
and in the Council of Aix-la-Chapelle, a.d. 817, several new ordi- 
nances, adapted to the exigencies of the period, were made in refer- 
ence to the discipline of monks. The most successful attempt at 
reformation took place in the Benedictine monastery at Clugni, in 
Burgundy, under the auspices of the Abbot Odo, a.d. S79-913. The 

ciuzniacs. Clugniacs had definitely fixed regulations regarding the hours of 
worship and other religious observances. The abbot was recog- 
nized as the superior of the whole order, held in his power the 
revenues, the preferments, the acceptance of novices, the settle- 
ment of disputes ; in short, the right of government, discipline, 
and initiation. A large proportion of the Western monks adopted 
these reforms, and there were no fewer than two thousand monas- 
teries of the order of Clugni. 

The revenues of this order soon became great and their power 
immense ; and immediately corruption, and pride, and laxity of 
morals resulted. A celebrated fanatic, named Eomuald, a.d. 956, 
a noble of Ravenna, had entered the Benedictine order in his 
twentieth year, but the profligacy and laxity of the members of 
that fraternity so disgusted him that he withdrew himself from 
their communion, and in the valley of the Arno founded a new 
monastery. To him Maldulo, the owner of the land, presented 
the ground on which it was erected, and from this circumstance 

CamaiCjiites. the members of the order are called Camaldulians, or Camaklolites. 
Romuald imposed on himself and his order the practice of many 
needless austerities, among others the sacred maintenance of silence. 
From similar motives Gualbert, of Florence, a.d. 1073, instituted 
the order of the monks of Yalhambrosa. The Sylvestrines and 
Grandimontenses originated with like laudable views, and the 
Carthusians are even more rigorous and decided in their anta- 
gonism to immoral or indolent habits. Bruno, of Cologne, 1030- 
1101 j being miraculously converted, consecrated his life to pious 



INSTITUTION OE NEW ORDESS. 293 

purposes. In the fulfilment of this purpose he founded a monas- a.d. 1000 
teiy and an order in the valley of La Grande Chartreuse, in the 
diocese of Grenoble, in France. This order was notable for exces- 
sive severity of discipline, In addition to the ordinary vows of 
poverty, chastity, and obedience, they promised to labour assi- 
duously, to diet sparingly, to abjure the eating of flesh, and one daj r 
in the week at least to satisfy or mortify the cravings of appetite 
by partaking of nought except bread, water, and salt ; to be silent 
in all cases in which speech was not absolutely necessary ; and 
never to pass beyond the bounds of their monasteries, except in 
the case of the priors, on the needful business of their houses. 

Almost simultaneously a similar wish to improve and elevate 
the monkish character, by rendering the discipline more strict and 
pure, seems to have been entertained by Robert of Molesme, in 
Burgundy, who succeeded in establishing the order of the Cister- Cistercians. 
cians, a.d. 1098 — so called from Cistertium, in the bishopric of 
Chalons — or Bernardines, from St. Bernard, a famous saint and 
abbot of their order. By a.d. 1115 four establishments of this new 
order had been founded. St. Bernard, abbot of Clairvaux, was one 
of the most able, popular, and influential men of his times, and 
under him the Cistercian order acquired a high reputation. At 
first their sanctity and good works much abounded ; but in process 
of time — that which seems to be the natural effect of monasticism 
— degeneracy took place. Monotony of life, thought, and circum- 
stance must, in the majority of monks, have produced at first 
sloth, then a desire for the excitements of the table, and afterwards 
a keen appetite for wealth ; while the minor few, whose ideas took 
a higher range, would look to the power and influence which they 
could succeed in wielding through the aid of the members of their 
fraternity. 

The various orders, too, having the interests of their own com- 
munities at heart, must have felt annoyance at the success of any . 
competing brotherhood, and thus the seeds of much evil must 
have been sown. Hence the virulence with which monk assailed 
monk when any new heresy arose, and the eagerness with which 
the brethren of one order stood forth to champion the faith of 
their adherents in opposition to any popular man belonging to 
another institution. There can be no doubt that, along with these 
evils, much good was mingled. The devotion which regards 
" prayers, stripes, and fruitless agony of mind," as fit service for 
God, may have been mistaken, but the utility of establishments in 
which men might congregate together and maintain and defend not 
only their opinions but their rights could not, in the circumstances 
of that age, but appear manifoldly evident. There was as much 
need for monasteries in religious matters, as in civil things there 
was need for castles and retainers. Their chief political evil was 
the ease with which these masses of men might be wielded to 



294 



THE RISE AKD PEOGKESS OE MO^ASTICTSir. 



a.d. 1060 attain ends at variance with the maintenance of good government. 
Their chief religious evil was the predominance given in the 
Church to those parties who, having attained the hierarchal chair 
of Rome, claimed alike the powers of earth, hell, and heaven, as 
their own. 

There cannot be a more conclusive argument against monastic- 
ism than the rise, among the " strictest sects," of new houses or 
orders. Had restraint or constraint been the natural condition of 
a virtuous life, such constant reforms, and the introduction of 
greater austerities, would have been uncalled for. And yet, strict 
as St. Benedict's rule undoubtedly was, it failed in moulding men 
into monotonous sinlessness. Stephen of Thiers, in Auvergne, in 
Grandimon- A ' T> ' 1^73, received from Gregory VII. power to form a new order — 
tenses. afterwards called Grandimontenses — from Grandmont in Limoges, 

in which place the first convent was established. He, at first, pro- 
posed to adopt, in its most rigorous interpretation, the rule of St. 
Benedict ; but seeing how much it might be perverted in practice, 
he considered it more advisable to issue a new rule of his own. As 
in all monastic rules, he included poverty and obedience in his 
vows, drew up a vegetarian dietary, forbade the possession of lands 
beyond the convent bounds, enjoined strict silence, prohibited all 
intercourse with females, committed the care of the worldly affairs 
of the fraternitv to the lav brotherhood, while he ordered the cleri- 
cal members to occupy themselves wholly with the consideration 
of divine things. Solitude was esteemed of so much importance, 
that the doors of the convent could not be opened except by high 
authority. For a while this sect had a success, but the harmony 
of the order was seriously endangered by the rivalries and animosi- 
ties originating in the marked distinction obtaining between the 
lay and clerical brethren. Even in the solitude of monastic life, 
evil passions will rouse themselves and ferment evil. Bigour and 
gloom are the nurses of the worse nature of the spirit ; and we 
know well that the Lord loveth a cheerful giver whether his gift 
be alms, praise, or service. 

In the latter part of the eleventh century, a.d. 1095, Gaston, a 
rich noble of Yienne, in Dauphine, having been seized with that 
mysterious malady St. Anthony's fire, visited the cell of the Bene- 
dictine monks of Montmajor, in which St. Anthony, one of the re- 
puted founders of roonachism, was said to lie interred, and was 
cured : his son, Guerin, under the same circumstances, having been 
healed of the same infirmity ; thereupon they consecrated them- 
selves and their wealth to works of love, kindness and charity, to 
the sick and poor. For a time the brethren of this praiseworthy 
company dwelt together in unity under the Benedictine rule, but 
becoming wealthy by the bounteous gifts of the good and pious, 
they withdrew from the order of St. Benedict, and by the special 
privilege of Boniface YIIL, a.d. 1297, they obtained the rank, 



Order of St. 
Anthony. 



MILITAKT MONKISH OEDEES. 295 

powers, rights, and honours of a separate community, under the a. d. 1112 
name of the order of St. Anthony. 

Nor were the principles involved in monaehism only approved 
of by those who in the usual and regular manner entered and be- 
came members of any monastic brotherhood. Many persons de- 
voted to a religious life associated together for particular religious 
purposes, such as, praying in common at certain hours of the day, 
abstaining from several kinds of meats, holding periodical fasts, de- 
nying themselves to marriage, &c. Some of those bodies dwelt in 
the same house, ate at the same table, were governed by the same 
laws, &c. Hence arose the sort of semi-monkish caste of canons, Canons - 
of whom there were two classes, regular and secular. The regular 
canons dwelt in these houses, and were much the same as monks ; 
but the secular canons were privileged to mix less or more 
with the world, especially if for purposes of charity or edification. 
Even these parties, in course of time, became infected with monas- 
tic dissoluteness and profligacy, and it was found requisite, a.d. 1059, 
under Nicholas II., to issue a decree for their better government. 
These canons have sometimes been called canons of the Augus- 
tinian rule. 

The fraternity of the Holy Trinity was founded by John of Hoty Trinity 
Matha, a.d. 1154-1213, and Felix of Yalois, a.d. 1127-1212, These 
two pious Franks dwelt in solitude in Cerfroy in Meaux, where 
they succeeded in establishing a new order. The original notion 
of this fraternity was one of sympathy with, and pity for, those 
prisoners of war whom the Mohammedans held in that wretched 
hopeless bondage, which was the characteristic of the rough age 
in which they lived. To effect the release of such parties, they 
laid aside one-third of their whole revenue, and hence received the 
designation of Brethren of the Keclemption. 

The monkish orders did not altogether confine themselves to 
the duties or pleasures of the arts of peace. There were those 
among them who aspired to become, in the most literal sense, 
u soldiers of the cross." The military orders or soldier-monks 
were three in number, viz., 1st, — Knights Hospitallers, afterwards 
named Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, Knights of Bhocles, 
and Knights of Malta. 2d, Knights Templars, Brethren of the 
Temple of Solomon at Jerusalem, Soldiery of the Temple, and 
Soldiers of Christ. 3d, Teutonic Knights of St. Mary of Jeru- 
salem, or German Knights of the Cross. 

The Knights Hospitallers took their Christian name and origin pUaUers. H ° S ~ 
from an hospital at Jerusalem, used by pilgrims visiting the Holy 
Land, and dedicated to St. John the Baptist. The primary duty 
of these knights was to perform such pious and charitable acts as 
were requisite to aftord relief to needy or sick pilgrims to the holy 
city, to give them such entertainment as they stood in want of, 
and to take such precautions as the exigencies of the times d< - 



296 THE EISE AND PKOGRESS OF MONASTICI8M. 

a.d. 11G0 manded, for their safety and comfort. About a.d. 1120, Raymond 
du Puy, their president, volunteered to make war against the 
Mohammedans at the expense of their order ; this offer the king 
of Jerusalem, Baldwin II., accepted, and the Eoman pontiff con- 
firmed and blessed the design. This proposal entirely changed the 
character of the fraternity. From being quiet unofficious min- 
istrants to the poor, needy, and sick, they became boisterous, war- 
like, and rough. The mightiest acts of valour crowned their order 
with laurels, and their wealth and luxury increased, as the glory 
of their feats of renown dimmed in its lustre. Of the brethren of 
this order there were three classes ; viz., nobles, or soldiers of birth 
and rank, whose duty it was to fight the battles of religion ; 
priests, who performed for the order all the offices of religion ; 
serving-brethren, men of ignoble birth, and engaged in all the 
drudgery connected with the order. 
Knights It is said that nine members of the order of St. John, all French, 

the two chief of whom were Hugues de Payens, or de Paganes, 
and Geoffrey de St. Omer, or St. Ademar, made a vow to maintain 
free passage to all pilgrims visiting the Holy Land. At first they 
do not seem to have contemplated the formation of a new order, 
for they took no active measures for propagation, and did not 
admit new members for seven years after having taken their com- 
munal vow. 

The utility of the purpose implied in their vow attracted at- 
tention ; and, a.d. 1120, Calixtus II. remodelled the Knights 
Hospitallers so as to comprehend this principle. His successor, 
Honorius, a.d. 1128, granted powers to embody the order of 
Knights Templars, and confirmed a rule for them, which had been 
drawn up at the request of Hugues de Payens that same year at 
the Council of Troves. This rule decreed that each member should 
attend the whole religious service of the Church by day or night, 
or, if on military duty, should perform certain substitutory forms 
of worship. On the decease of one of the brethren, a hundred 
paternosters were to be repeated daily for a week, and his rations 
during forty days were to be given to the poor ; three days in the 
week they were permitted the use of flesh, on all other days its use 
was prohibited ; but Friday was specially set apart on Lenten fare. 

This religeo-chivalric order soon rose in estimation, many scions 
of the noblest families joined it ea^erlv, while lands and monev 
were presented as donations in almost every country in Europe. 
The places in which these possessions lay were named provinces, 
Jerusalem being, until its capture, a.d. 1187, the head-quarters. 
On the final extinction of the Latin power hi Palestine, 1192, the 
chief residence of this order was transferred to Cyprus. 

From the period of its institution, till a.d. 1162, this order con- 
sisted entirely of laymen. In that year, however, Pope Alexander 
III., by the bull c Omne datum Optimum,' permitted this fraternity 



MILITARY MONKISH OEDEES. 297 

to receive under their rule, as chaplains, any clerical person not a.d. 1180 
previously bound by other vows. At a subsequent period, ' serving 
brethren ' were admitted of two classes ; viz., those of oris and 
those of arms. A still further increase of the membership was 
secured by the admission of affiliated members who took no vow, 
but enrolled themselves by purchase ; of donati, i.e., children dedi- 
cated to 'the order by their parents and guardians ; and of oblaii, 
i.e., persons pledged to honour its members, succour and attend 
them in need or sickness, and to defend the interests of the order. 
Into its history we cannot here enter, that embraces the whole 
crusadic period, from the capture of Jerusalem till the fall of 
Ptolemais, a.d. 1291, and therefore belongs to a period later than 
the present volume is intended to take up. 1 

During the siege of Ptolemais, a.d. 1190, a few pious and kindly Teutonic 
Teutons undertook to provide the sick and wounded soldiery with g 
accommodations and tendance. The Teutonic princes, who were 
taking part in the siege, highly approved of the object, and pro- 
posed to institute an association for its accomplishment. Pope 
Caslestine III. extended his favour to this association, and con- 
firmed by formal enactments the rule of the order of the Teutonic 
knights. The order was to be composed entirely of Teutons of 
noble lineage; its members were to dedicate their lives to the 
defence of the religion of Jesus, and the freedom of the Holy Land, 
from the occupation of the infidels. The members submitted, at 
first, to a code of great austerity, adopted a simple unadorned garb, 
and held bread and water as sufficient recompense for their labours ; 
but as their wealth increased, luxury crept in, and many of the 
austerer provisions of the rule were either abrogated or neglected. 
When the order was excluded from Palestine they retired to Venice, 
but subsequently they undertook the conversion and subjugation 
of the Prussians to the Christian faith, and, by dint of cruel rapine 
and unholy bloodshed, succeeded in reduciug the inhabitants to a 
nominal recognition of Christ, and a real submission to themselves. 
At the Reformation they lost their extensive territories in Livonia, 
Courland, &c, but were permitted to retain some of their Germanic 
possessions. 

Up to the thirteenth century the above were the only orders 
of monks. In a.d. 1215 the mendicant orders, viz., Franciscans, 
Dominicans, Carmelites, and Hermits of Augustine arose. These 
were instituted that, "by the austerity of their manners, their 
contempt of riches, and the external gravity and sanctity of their 
conduct and manners," they might redeem the Church from the 
reproach to which the early orders had exposed it. 

The relaxation of discipline, resulting in recklessness of conduct, 

|See Col. Procter's Ottoman Empire ; Mill's Hist, of the Crusades; Gibbon, chaps, 
lviii. lix. ; Heeren's Essay on the Influence of the Crusades ; and Michaud's Biblio- 
graphie des Croisades. 



298 



THE RISE A^D PROGRESS OE MONASTIC!. SM. 



a.d. 1190 which soon became necessary, led to the most disastrous conse- 
quences ; and the Reformation movement, which mainly arose from 
the abuses incident to monastic institutions, ultimately brought 
about the downfall of such associations in all the countries that 
embraced the Protestant cause. 

The Jesuits set themselves to oppose Protestantism, and in some 
places succeeded well. Their history, however, belongs to a subse- 
quent, and shall receive attention at a future time. 

At present monastic institutions have to a certain extent expe- 
rienced a revival, but their discipline and power have much declined, 
and their whole constitution has been, as far as possible, harmo- 
nized with the spirit of the age. Under such circumstances we 
hope that the preceding brief sketch of 



Protestant- 
ism opposed 
by the 
Jesuits. 



" Eremites and friar?, 
White, black, and grey, with all their trumpery, 
And they who, to be sure of paradise, 
Dying, put on the weeds of Dominie, 
Or in Franciscan think to pass disguised," 



will neither be 



uninteresting 



nor inutile. And 



may it be so 

blessed for our instruction as to teach us to pray, — Lord, sanctiiy 
us through thy Truth, " Thy Word is Truth !" 



INDEX. 



Aedallah. 186. 
A-Becket, Thomas, 223. 
Abelard, birth, 244. 

, school, 244. 

5 retirement, 244. 

. condemned, 245. 

, death, 245. 

Acacians, tenets of the, 118. 

Adoptians, 179. 

Adrian IV., 226. 

Adrian refuses the English primacy, 278. 

.Elfric, 200. 

Agobard, 195. 

Aidan, made bishop of Holy Island, 273. 

Aimo, 197. 

Albigenses, 251. 

Alcuin, 172, 288. 

Aldfrid of Northumbria, 276. 

refuses submission to Eome, 285. 

death, 286. 

Aldhelm, 168. 
Alexander III., 226. 
Alexandria, Council of, 176. 
Alms for masses, 229. 
Ambrose, birth, 98. 

, talents, 99. 

-, boldness, 100. 



— , character, 101. 
— , death, 101. 
works, 102. 



Anacletus, 225. 
Anastasia, 92. 
Anastasius, 143. 
Anastasius IV., 226. 
Anchialus Michael, 241. 
Anglo-Saxon Church, 287. 
Anselm, 250. 
Ansgar, 185. 
Antidicomarianites, 122. 
Antioch, Synod of, 114. 
Antiochus, 167. 
Antipopes, 226. 
Antonius Marcus, 1. 
Apocryphal writings, 127. 
Apollinarians, tenets of, 119. 
Apollo, temple of, burnt, 50, 
Ardseans, 122. 



Arianism, 109. 

, Ambrose -opposes, 62. 

, Constantine favours, 112. 

, Justina favours, 62. 

, origin of, 110* 

— — , Theodosius suppresses, 61. 
Arian riot, 93. 

Arians, tenets and sects of, 118. 
Arius, 109. 

condemned at Alexandria, 110. 

opposes Alexander, 110. 

, Athanasins refuses to restore, 113. 

— — returns to Alexandria, 113. 

, death, 114. 

Aries, Council of, 116. 
Arnobins, works, 70. 
Arnold of Brescia, 254. 
Athanasius, early life, 77. 

, exile, 78. 

-, character, 78. 

refuses to restore x\rius, 113. 

1 first banishment of, 113. 

at Rome, 114. 

returns to Alexandria, 115. 

, second banishment of, 116. 

, third banishment of, 117. 

, fourth banishment of, 117. 

, death, 118. 

Atto, 200. 

Augustine defends the Scriptures, 127. 

a Manichee, 137. 

— , birth, 137. 

, education, 137. 

baptized, 138. 

renounces Manicheism, 138. 

settles at Rome, 138. 

, bishop of Hippo, 139. 

, conduct, 139. 

, ordained, 139. 

works, 140. 

lands in Kent, 261. 

— — , metropolitan of England, 264. 

conference with British Bishops, 265. 



-, death, 140, 267. 



Aurelian, 3. 
Authbert, 185. 



300 



INDEX. 



Balsamon, Theodore, 241. 

Barcepha, Moses, 201. 

Bardanes, 180. 

Basil of Caesarea, works and style, 89. 

Bede, course of life, 170. 

, ordination, 170. 

, death, 170. 

, works, 171. 

Benedict IX., 212. 
Benedictines, 215. 
Berenger, abjures his tenets, 234. 

relapseSj 235. 

signs Humbert's confession, 235. 

summoned to Rome, 235. 

retracts, 230. 

, works, 236. 

, death, 236. 

Bernard of Clairval, 243. 

opposes Abelard, 245. 

Bertramn, 171. 

Birinus, 273. 

Bishops of Rome, power of the, 129. 
, contest of, with the bishops of Constan- 
tinople, 130. 
Blois, Peter of, 247. 
Boethius, 144:. 
Bologna, university of, 217. 
Boniface, archbishop of Mentz, 163. 

■ visits Rome, 163. 

■ goes to Friesland, 164. 

, murder of, 164. 

Boniface III., supremacy of, 131. 
Britain, conversion of, 256. 
Brithwald's reception of Wilfrid, 285. 
British Bishops, 265. 

at Ariminium and Aries, 258. 

Churches, state of, 265. 

Burchard, 200. 

Burdinus, 225. 

CiEClLiAN deposed, 106. 

reinstated, 107. 

Ca?lestius, notice of, 152. 

condemned, 153. 

in Africa, 153. 

■ in Sicily, 153. 

censured, 154. 

Ca?sarius, 144. 
Calixtus II., 225. 
Canons of Theodore, 280. 
Canterbury a metropolitan see, 263. 
Carlovingian race, 186. 
Carmelites, 228. 

Carthage, Council of, 154. 

Cassian, 142. 

Cassiodorus, 144. 

Cathari, 253. 

Celestine II., 225. 

Celestine III., 226. 

Chad, bishop of Lichfield, 279. 

, bishop of London, 274. 

Chalcedon, 150. 

Charlemagne confirms Pepin's grants, 160. 

overturns the exarchate of Ravenna, 160. 



Charlemagne opposes the pagans, 104. 

, the four books of, I 

Christianity, establishment of. consequences of, 4. 

not the cause of the decline of the Roman 

Empire, 123. 

, corruption of, 128. 

, persecutions of, 186. 

, progress of, in Brittany, 261. 

and civilization, 262. 

and paganism, 262. 

, discussion on, in Northumbria, 271. 

Christ's birth, manner of, 207. 
Chrysolanus, Peter, 239. 
Chrysostom, birth and education, 132. 

, ordination, 133. 

bishop of Constantinople, 1 33. 

opposes the Novatians, 134. 

condemned, 134. 

restored, 134. 

exiled, 134. 

preaches against Eudoxia, 135. 

death, 136. 

works, 136. 

Church and State, union of, 2. 

polity. 29. 

, state of the, 32. 

of Rome, state of, 57- 

. the Eastern, declines, 150. 

, the Western, increases, 158. 

Cinnamus Johannes, 240. 

Circumcelliones, 107. 

Cistercians, 227. 

Clarendon, constitutions of, 223. 

Claudius, 196. 

Clement III., 226. 

Clugniacs. 215. 

Coleman opposes Rome, 276. 

resigns the bishopric of Xorthumbria, 277. 

Collyriuians. 122. 

Columban. missionary exertions of, 161. 
Commodianus, works of, 73. 
Commodus, 1. 
Constans slain, 29. 
Constans, formulary of, 177. 
Constantino's supervision of the Church, 3. 
, birth and parentage, 14. 

departs to Britain. 15. 

elected Emperor, 16. 

aids Maximian, 17. 

proclaimed, 18. 

defeats Licinius, 19. 

renews war with Licinius > 19. 

, vision of, 23. 

, edicts of, 25. 

founds Constantinople, 26. 

, death, 26. 

sons proclaimed Emperors, 27. 

character of, 27. 

relatives, massacre of, 28. 

favours Arianism, 112. 

Constantine II., slain, 29. 

Copronvmus, 181. 

YIIL, i98. 

Pogonatus, 158. 



INDEX. 



301 



Constantinople, the foundation of Council at, 181. 

, Council at, 204. 

Conventus Latronum, 150. 
Corbinian, 164. 
Corporeal presence, 204. 
Cosmas, 167. 

Council, sixth General, 177. 
Creed, the Nicene, 112. 
Crisconius, 169. 
Crispus, death, 26. 
Cyril, ordination, 80. 

, deposition, 80. 

, works, 81. 

, style, 81. 

, character, 146. 

, appeals to Rome, 147. 

of Alexandria opposes Nestorius, 147. 

Damascenus, 168. 

Damasus, 57, 103. 

Damianus, 233. 

Dark Ages, 189. 

Decline of paganism, 11. 

Decretals forged, 188. 

Denmark, conversion of, 185.> 

Didymus, 103. 

Dinoth of Bangor, 266. 

Dioclesian persecution, 257. 

Diospolis, Synod of, 153. 

Division between the East and West, 1. 

, ecclesiastical, of Britain, 275. 

of the Eoman empire, 28. 

Donatist heresy, origin of, 105. 

■ derivation of name, 106. 

, conduct of Augustine towards, 108. 

— — , divisions of the, 108. 

( tenets, 108. 

Doxipatrius, Nilus, 232. 
Duliani, 118. 
Dunstan, 200. 

Eadbald, 268. 

East Angles, Church of, 273. 

East Saxons, Church of, 274. 

Ecclesiastical divisions of Britain, 275. 

Edwin and Ethelburga, marriage of, 269. 

embraces Christianity, 270. 

— — slam, 273. 

Egbert, archbishop of York, 287. 

Eginhard, 196. 

Ephesus, Council of, first, 147. 

second, 149. 

Ephrem Syrus, works of, 88. 
Epiphanius, 86. 

, style, 87. 

Erigena, Johannes, 173. 
Ethelbert a Christian, 261. 

, death, 268. 

Eucharist, controversy regarding, 183. 
— — , Berengerian doctrine of, 234. 
Euchites, 122. 
Eugenius III., 226. 
Eulogius, 148. 
Eunodius, 144. 



Eunomians. 118. 

Eusebians, 118. 

Eusebius of Cassarea, early life, 74. 



vorks, 7i 



Eustratius, '239. 

Eutyches, 149. 

Eutychian heresy, modifications of, 152. 

Eutychianism, progress of, 150. 

Eutychians, 149. 

tenets, 151. 

Eutychius, 199. 
Exocontians, 118. 

Felician heresy, origin and progress of, 179. 
Felix of Birr gundy, 274. 

of Ravenna, 159. 

Firmin, 164. 

Frankfort, Council at, 183. 
Franks, conversion of, 123. 
Fredegarius, 174. 
Fregus, Svnod of, 184, 
Fulbert, 233. 
Fulgentius, 144. 

Galltjs created Caesar, 31. 
Gelasius II., decree of, 225. 
General Council, the fifth, 129. 
Genseric invades Africa, 139. 
Gentilli, Synod at, 1 84. 
Geoffrey of Angers, 247. 
Gerbert, 199. 

German nations, conversion of, 124. 
Gilbert de la Porree, 245. 
Gildas, 196. 
Glycas, Michael, 240. 
Gotteschalc, 196. 

, tenets of, 207. 

Grandimontenses, 228. 
Gregory Nazianzen, birth, 90. 

ordination, 90. 

bishop of Sasima, 91. 

resignation, 94. 

Gregory Xyssenus, ordination, 97. " 

, works, 98. 

Gregory of Tours, 144. 
Gregory I., birth, 143. 

pontificate, 143. 

works, 144. 

Gregory II. anathematizes Leo, 181. 
Gregory VI., 212. 
Gregory VIL, 213, 239. 

aims at universal empire, 213. 

assumes power over bishops, 214. 

Gregory VIII., 226. 

Hadfield, Synod at, 283. 

Harmenopulus, Constantius, 240. 

Haymo, 197. 

Heloise takes the veil, 244. 

Henricians, 251. 

Heraclius of Ecthesis condemned, 176. 

, edict of, 176. 

Heradford, Synod at, 279. 
Hesychius, 167. 



302 



INDEX. 



Hilarius, his works, 82. 

the Deacon, 103. 

Hilary, 143. 
Hildebert, 239. 
Hildebrand, 213. 
Hinemar, 19G. 

Holy Ghost, derivation of the, 184. 
Homoiusion^ 112. 
Honorius II., 225. 

of Anton, 248. 

Hugo Etherianus, 241. 
Humbert, 233. 
Hungary converted, 189. 

Iconoclasts, 179. 

Iconoduli, 179. 

Idolatry condemned, 181. 

restored-. 182. 

Ignatius, 194. 

Images, controversy concerning, 204. 
Indulgences, 228. 
Innocent II., 225. 
Innocent III., 226. 
Investitures, 213. 

, knightly and priestly, difference of, 214. 

■ , controversy regarding, 218. 



ceremony, 



219. 



abused by laymen, 220. 

by ring and crosier, 220. 

, quarrel about, settled, 222. 

Irene poisons Leo IV"., 182. 
Irish, conversion of, 124. 
Isidore of Pelusium, 142. 
Isidore of Seville, 168. 
Isychius, 167. 

Italian provinces revolt, 181. 
Ives of Chartres, 246. 

Jerome, birth and education, 140. 

a monk, 141. 

settles in Ptilestine, 141. 

, death, 141. 

, works, 141. 

Jerusalem taken, 166, 

Joan, fable of Pope, 187. 

Johannes Erigena, story of his death, 173. 

John, patriarch of Constantinople, 143. 

John of Salisbury, 247. 

Julian made Caesar, 32. 

5 superstition, 49. 

elected Augustus, 52. 

, death, 52. 

character, 53. 

, policy, 56. 

■ , dying address, 57. 

Julian Pomerius, 169. 
Justus of Canterbury, 269. 
Justus of Rochester, 265. 
Juvencus, style, 79. 

Knights Hospitallers, 228. 

Templars, 228. 

Teutonic, 228. 



Lactantius. works of, 71. 

Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury, 237 

comes to England, 237. 

sets the king above the pop'-. 

character, 239. 



death, 

works 



239. 
239. 



229. 



Lateran Council, first, 

, second, 230. 

, third, 230. 

Law, civil and canon, revived, 247. 
Lawrence of Canterbury, 267. 
Learning in ninth century, 186. 
Leo, the Isaurian, 180. 
Leo I., 143. 

, epistle of, 150. 

Leo IV., 182, 195. 
Leo IX., 212. 
Leontius, 143. 
Lucifer, exile, 84. 

, style, 85. 

Lucius II., 225. 
Lucius III., 226. 
opposes Arius, 77. 

Macarius, 104. 

Macedonius, tenets of, 120. 

Magnentius, revolt of, 29. 

Manuel tries to reunite the Churches, 242. 

Maronites, 178. 

Martin, Pope, imprisoned, 177. 

Maternus, J. F., works, 80. 

Maxentius, 143. 

Maximian, 17. 

Maximus, 167. 

Mellitus of London, 268. 

Mercia, Church of, 275. 

taken from the see of Canterbury, 28< 

Messalians, 122. 

Michael Cerularius, 232. 

Milan, Council of, 116. 

Military orders, 228. 

Missionaries, the first, prudent, 262. 

Monachism increases, 215. 

Monastic institutions degenerate, 158 

Monasticism, rise and progress of, 289. 

introduced to Rome, 290. 

, abuses of, 291. 

, inemcacy of, 294. 

, military orders in, 295. 

. mistake of, 293. 

, natural result of, 293. 



orders in, 292. 
prevalence of, 290. 
reform of, 291. 



Monks — see Orders of. 
Monothelite heresy, 166. 
Monothelitism, 175. 

condemned, 178. 

Mursa, battle of, 31. 

Xepotiaxus seizes Rome, 30. 

seizes the emperorship, 30. 

death of. 30. 



TXDEX. 



303 



Nestoriaiis, 145. 

, tenets of the, 149. 

propagate Christianity, 210, 

Nestorius, bishop of Constantinople, 145 

, his heresy, 146. 

, favoured by Arcadius, 147. 

t condemned, 148. 

, death, 148. 

Nice, Council of, 111. 

, second Council at, 182. 

Nieene creed, 112. 

, doctrines, 119. 

Xicephorus, 194. 

Nicetas Pectoratus, 2S2. 

Nicholas II., 212. 

Nicon, 198. 

Nidd, Synod at, 286. 

Nilus Doxipatrius, 232. 

Nominalists, 211. 

Northern Europe, conversion of, 189. 

Northumbria, conversion of, 269. 

Norway converted, 170. 

Odilo, 201. 
(Ecumenius, 198. 
Olympiodorus, 198. 
Optatus, 187. 
Orders of Monks. — 

Benedictines, 291. 

Bernardines, 293. 

Camaldolites, 292. 

Carthusians, 292. 

Cistercians, 293. 

Clugniacs, 292. 

Grandimontenses, 292, 294. 

Holy Trinity, 295. 

Knights Hospitallers, 295. 

Knights Templars, 296. 

Knights Teutonic, 297. 

St. Anthony, 294. 

Sylvestrines, 292. 

Valhambrosa> 292. 
Origeii, system of, 128. 
Oswald of Northumbria, 273. 

Paciaxus, style and works, S6. 

Paganism, downfall of, 63. 

Papal election, change in the mode, 226. 

• power increases, 188. 

Paris, university of, 217. 
Paschal controversv, 169. 
Paschal II., 219. 
Paschasius, Radbert, 197. 
Paul of Samosata, 3. 
Paulicians, 251. 

Paulician heresy, origin of, 202. 
opposed by Constans, 202. 

favoured by Xicephorus, 202. 

■ persecution of, 202. 

tenets of, 203. 

. propagation of, 203. 

Paulinus, 174. 
Pelagians, notice of, 152. 

■ at Rome, 152. 



Pelagians in Palestine, 153. 
, creed of, 153. 

censured, 154. 

tenets, 154. 

Pepin, 159. 

Persia, persecution in, 125. 

, war with, 50. 

Persians, invasion of the, 28. 
Peter of Blois, 247. 
Peter of Celles, 247. 
Peter Comestor, 248. 
Peter of Clugny, 248 6 
Peter Lombard", 249. 
Petrobrussians, 251. 
Philastrius, 104. 
Philip the Solitary, 240. 
Phocas, 131. 
Phcebadius, 85. 
Photian controversy, 208. 
Photinus, tenets of, 119. 
Photius, early life, 193. 
, works, 194. 

excommunicated, 208. 

deposed, 208. 

promoted, 208. 

reinstated, 208. 

' deposed again, 209. 

re-excommunicated, 209. 

Poland converted, 189. 
Pontifex Maximus, 3. 

Popes, manner of electing, changed, 212. 
Precedence of bishops of York and Canterbury, 

dispute concerning, 237. 
Predestinarians, tenets of, 156. 

denied, 157. 

Predestination, 206. 
Prelates, succession of, 67. 
Premontres, 227. 
Primasius, 143. 
Priscillian, persecution of, 121 
Priscillianists, 63. 

, origin of, 120. 

, tenets of, 121. 

Prosper, 143. 
Psathvrians, 119. 
Psellus, Michael, 232. 
Ptolemais, siege of. 297. 
Pulleyns, Robert, 249. 

QtJADRIVIUM, 211. 

Quiercy, Synods at, 206. 

Rabaxus Maurcs, 195. 

Ratheir, 199. 

Raymond du Puy, 296. 

Realists. 211. 

Roman Church, the causes of the growth of, 6. 

Empire divided, 123. 

pontiffs, 191. 

gain Greece, 160. 

not implicitly followed, 185. 

Rome, Council at, 235. 

, the jurisdiction of, acknowledged, 282. 

Rossellinus, 251. 



304 



INDEX. 



Rufus, 233. 
Rupert of Duytz, 248. 
Ruspina, 144. 
Russia converted, 189. 

SPECULUM HlLDEBBAJJDINUM, 210. 

Speculum Obscurum, 210. 
Saracens, irruptions of, 166. 

persecute Christianity, 210. 

Sardica, Council of, 115. 
Scotus Johannes, 205. 
Sects, state of the, 67. 
Secular clergy degenerate, 159. 
Semi-Pelagians, 156. 

, tenets of, 156. 

Sigebert, conversion of, 274. 

Simeon Metaphrastes, 190. 

Socrates, 142. 

Sophronius, 166. 

South Saxons, Church of, 275. 

Sozomen, 142. 

St. Anselm, 250. 

St. David, 260. 

St. Gal, 161. 

St. Killin, 161. 

St. Paul in Britain, 256. 

St. Victor, Hugh, 249. 

St. Victor, Richard, 249. 

Stercoranistae, 205. 

Strabo, YValafridus, 197. 

Supererogation, works of, 229. 

Supremacy of Bishops of Rome, 131. 

Sweden., conversion of, 185. 

Sylvester II., 199. 

Sylvester III., 212. 

Syncellus, 168. 

Tanquelinus, 252. 

Tartary, Christianity introduced into, 10, 

Theodore of Canterbury, 169. 

, the ' Penitentiale ' of, 264. 

primate of Britain, 278. 

encourages learning, 279. 

canons of, 280. 

■ , death, 284. 

Theodoret, 142. 
Theodorus, 143. 
Theopaschites, 151. 
Theophanes, 168. 



Theophanes Ceramius, 231. 

Theophylact, 233. 

Theorianus, "241. 

Three Chapters condemned, 129. 

Trajan, 1. 

Transubstantiation, 228. 

Trivium, 211. 

Turks persecute Christianity, 210. 

Tyre, Synod of, 113. 

Urban III., 226. 
Ursicinus, 57* 

Valens persecutes Christians, 58. 

Valentinian, 56. 

Verulam, conference at, 259. 

Vetranio, Emperor, 29. 

Victorinus, notice of, 83. 

, style and works, 83. 

Waldenses, 254. 

tenets, 255. 

Wessex, Church of, 273. 
Whitby, Synod of, 276. 
Wighara primate of Britain, 278. 
"Wilfrid bishop of Xorthumbria, 278. 

deposed, 278. 

restored, 279. 

appeals to Pope Agatha, 281. 

imprisoned, 282. 

reconciled to Theodore, 283. 

deprived of his see, 2 :4. 

appeals again to Rome, 285. 

, cause of, favoured in Rome, 285. 

returns to England, 285. 

, bishop of Hexham, 286. 

, death, 286. 

Willebrod, 161. 

Winfrid commissioned by Gregory, 162. 

returns to Rome, i62. 

corresponds with Daniel, 163. 

Xiphilinus, 233. 

Zeros Hexoticox, 151. 

Zonaras Johannes, 240. 
Zosimus, pontiff, 154. 
Zygabenus Euthynius. 240. 



GLASGOW: BELL AND BAlX, PRIXTERS. 




IMPORTANT WORKS 0ctol)er ' 1855 ' 

3n %tunu nnh General literature, 

PUBLISHED BY 

RICHARD GRIFFIN AND COMPANY, 

Publishers to the University of Glasgow, 



I 



5 Warwick Square, 

PATERNOSTER ROW, 
LONDON. 




Prince of Wales Buildings, 

BUCHANAN STREET, 

GLASGOW. 



ABBOTT.— MORAL AND EDUCATIONAL WORKS: 

Comprising the Young Christian, Teacher, Way to do Good, &c. 8vo, 5s. cloth. 

AIRY.— CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE ENCYCLOPEDIA ME- 

TROPOLITANA : viz. Trigonometry, Figure of the Earth, and Tides and Waves. 
One Volume, 4to, 10s. 6d. cloth. 

AIRY.— TRIGONOMETRY. 

A TREATISE ON TRIGONOMETRY. By G. B. Airy, F.R.S., Astronomer 
Royal. New edition. Edited by Professor Blackburn. Crown 8vo, cloth, 2s. 6d. 

ANCIENT HISTORY, 

Comprising the Political, Social, and Literary Histories of Rome, Greece, Egypt, 
Assyria, Persia, &c. &c. By Arnold, Talfourd, Ramsay, Eadie,Renouard, 
Whewell, &c, &c. 10 vols., crown 8vo, cloth, gilt, 41. 4s. 

ANECDOTES—LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC. 

CYCLOPAEDIA OF LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC ANECDOTE. 

Edited by Wm. Keddie, Esq., Sec. Glasgow Philos. Society. Cr. 8vo, 5s. cloth. 

ANECDOTES— RELIGIOUS. 

CYCLOPAEDIA OF RELIGIOUS ANECDOTE; A vast Collection of Facts, 
Narratives, and Examples, with Copious Index, and Introductory Essay by 
Rev. Dr. Cheever. To which is added a Complete Series of Scriptural Texts 
illustrated by the Anecdotes. 4th edition. Crown 8vo, 5s. cloth. 

BALEOUR.— BOTANY: 

An Introduction to the Study of the Structure, Physiology, and Classification of 
Plants. By John H. Balfour, M.D., F.R.S.E., Professor of Botany in the 
University of Edinburgh. Numerous Illustrations, Third Edition, revised and 
enlarged by J. W. Williams, M.D., Lecturer on Botany at the Original School 
of Medicine, Dublin. Crown 8vo, 10s. 6d. cloth. 

BIOGRAPHY: 

CYCLOPEDIA OF UNIVERSAL BIOGRAPHY; Containing a Complete 
Series of Original Memoirs of the most Remarkable Individuals of all Times and 
Nations. By Alison, Brewster, Burton, Creasy, Eadie, Knight, Niciiol, 
Spalding, Wornum, and other Contributors. With "150 Illustrations of Birth- 
places, &c. &c. Post 8vo, 12s. 6d. cloth. 

BOOK OF NATURE: 

THE BOOK OF NATURE; a Comprehensive Introduction to the Na- 
tural and Physical Sciences. From the German of Professor Schoedler, 
with numerous Additions, by Henry Medlock, F.C.S. Third edition, corrected 
and enlarged. With Copious Index, and 500 Engravings, post 8vo, 7s. 6d. cloth. 

BOOK OF TRADES : 

Or, Circle of the Useful Arts. Illustrated by Engravings and W T oodcuts, Eleventh 
Edition, 16mo, 4s. 6d. cloth. 



NEW WORKS AND NEW EDITIONS 



BRITISH ELOQUENCE : 

The Literary, Political, and Sacred Oratory of the Nineteenth Century, 

in a series of foolscap 8vo volumes. 3s. 6d. each, cloth. 
Literary Oratory. — Addresses at various Literary Institutions. 

First Series.— Alison, Brewster, Herschell, Talfourd, Lord Car- 
lisle, Lord Maiion, &c. &c. 

Second Series.— Brougham, Campbell, Cobden, Bulwer Lytton, Mac- 
aulay, Masson, Peel, Playfair. Lord John Russell, Sir James Stephen, 
Principal Scott, Professor Wilson. 
Political Oratory. — Parliamentary Oratory during the Thirty Years' Peace. 

First Series.— Canning, Castlereagh, Durham, Grey, Huskisson, Liver- 
pool, Macintosh, Romilly, Russell, Wellington. 
Sacred Oratory — Sermons by the most Eminent Divines. 

First Series.— Church of England— Archbishop of Dublin, Bishop of Nor- 
wich, Bishop of Oxford, Canons Dale, M'Neile, Miller, Stowell, and 
Wordsworth, Rev. R. Bickersteth, Dr. Hook, F. D. Maurice, Melville, 
Molyneux, Moore, Professors Pusey and Trench; with a Charge on 
Preaching, by Archdeacon Sinclair. 

BRITISH EMPIRE. 

A BIOGRAPHICAL, GEOGRAPHICAL, AND HISTORICAL HAND- 
BOOK OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. By numerous Contributors. With 
Map and engravings, crown 8vo, Ss. 6d., cloth. 

BROUGHAM.— WORKS. 

The Critical, Historical, and Miscellaneous Works of Henry, Lord 
Brougham, F.R.S. Now first Collected under the direct care and superintend- 
ence of his Lordship, and publishing in a series of post 8vo volumes, 5s. each, cloth. 
Vol. 1.— LIVES of PHILOSOPHERS of the TIME of GEORGE III. 

2.-LIVES of MEN of LETTERS of the TIME of GEORGE III. 
3, 4,5.-HISTORICAL SKETCHES of the STATESMEN who Flourished in 
the TIME of GEORGE III. 

To be followed by — 
Dissertations and Addresses on Literature, Philosophy, and Natural Theology, 
Speeches on Social and Political Subjects, &c, <xc. 

BROUGHAM— EDINBURGH REVIEW. 

Costributions to the Edinburgh Review, Political, Historical, and Mis- 
cellaneous, by Henry, Lord Brougham, F.R.S. , 3 vols. Svo. 

BRYCE.— UNIVERSAL GAZETTEER. 

Cyclopaedia of Political and Physical Geography, forming a Complete 
Gazetteer of the World, with Pronunciation, and numerous Illustrations. By 
James Bryce, A.M., F.G.S. Post 8vo. 

CAMPBELL.— BRITISH NAVAL HISTORY. 

Lives of the British Admirals and Naval History of Great Britain from the Days 
of Caesar to the Present Time, Fifth Edition, engravings, fcp. 8vo, 3s. 6d. cloth. * 

CHANNING.— WORKS. 

Complete in One Volume, 8vo, 6s. cloth. 

COLERIDGE.— METHOD. 

Introductory Dissertation to the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana on the Science of 
Method, with a Svnopsis. Bv Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Crown 8vo, 2s. cl. 

COWPER.— POETICAL WORKS. 

The Poetical Works of William Cowper. With Introductory Essay by James 
Montgomery and Illustrations, small 8vo. 

COX.— BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. 

A MANUAL OF BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES, OR ILLUSTRATIONS OF 
THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. By the Rev. F. A. Cox, D.D., LL.D. WithMaps 
and nearly 200 Illustrations, crown Svo, 7s. 6d. cloth. 

COX.— SACRED HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY, 

From the Antediluvian Period to the Time of the Prophet Malachi. Edited by 
Rev. F. A. Cox, D.D., LL.D. Crown Svo, 6s. cloth. 

CRUDEN.— CONCORDANCE 

To the Holy Scriptures. Condensed and Revised from the larger Work of Cruden . 
By Rev. Professor Eadie, D.D., LL.D. Thirteenth edition, 8vo, 5s. cloth. 



PUBLISHED BY RICHARD GRIFFIN AND CO. 



CURIOSITIES OF BIOGRAPHY; 

Or, Memoirs of Extraordinary Characters. By Robert Malcolm. 100 
Characteristic Cuts. Foolscap Svo, 2s. 6d. cloth. 

DALGAIRNS— COOKERY. 

The Practice of Cookery Adapted to the Business of Every-Day Life. 
By Mrs. Dalgairns. Thirteenth Edition, enlarged, foolscap Svo, 4s, b'd. cloth. 

DAVY.— AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY. 

ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY. By Sir H. Dayt, 
Bart,P.R.S.,&c. New edition, Revised, by John Shier, A. M. , LL.D. 8vo,3s.6d.cl. 

DEWEY.— THEOLOGICAL WORKS. 

Complete in One Volume, post Svo, 5s, cloth. 

DONALDSON— LIFE OF A SOLDIER. 

Recollections of the Eventful Life of a Soldier, bv Joseph Donaldson, 
Sergeant in the Ninety-fourth Regiment, foolscap Svo, 3s. (id. cloth. 

D'ORSEY.— SPELLING BY DICTATION; 

A Series of Progressive Exercises in English Orthography, Illustrated by 1500 
Quotations. By £ev. A. J. D. D'Orsey, High School, Glasgow. ISnio, Is. cloth. 

PROFESSOR EADIE'S WORKS. 

ANALYTICAL CONCORDANCE to the Holy Scriptures, with the Text in 
full. Post Svo, Ss. 6d., cloth. 

BIBLICAL CYCLOPAEDIA ; or, Dictionary of Eastern Antiquities, Geography, 
Natural History, Sacred Annals and Biography, and Biblical Literature. With 
Maps and numerous Pictorial Illustrations. Fifth edition, revised, post Svo, 
7s. b'd. cloth. 

COMMENTARY ON THE GREEK TEXT OF THE EPISTLE OF 

PAUL TO THE COLOSSIANS. Svo, 10s. 6d., cloth. 
COMMENTARY ON THE GREEK TEXT OF TFIE EPISTLE OF 

PAUL TO THE EPHESIANS. Svo, 14s. cloth. 

CONDENSED CONCORDANCE to the Holy Scriptures on the basis of Cruden. 
Post Svo, 5s. cloth. 

DICTIONARY OF THE BIBLE, for the Use of Young Person?. With 120 
Illustrations, fourth edition, small Svo, 2s. b'd. cloth. 

DIVINE LOVE, a Series of Doctrinal, Practical, and Experimental Dis- 
courses. Foolscap Svo, 5s. cloth. 

EARLY ORIENTAL HISTORY; Comprising the History of Egypt, Assyria, 

Persia, Media, Phrysia, and Phoenicia. Numerous Illustrations, cr. Svo, Ss. cl. 

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

First Division. — HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN THE 
FIRST CENTURY. By Right Rev. Samuel Hinds, D.D., Bishop of Norwich, 
and Rev. J. H. NEWMAN, B,D. Crown Svo, 6$. cloth. 

Second Division.— CHRISTIANITY IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 

Part X.-THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH I# THE SECOND AND THIRD 

CEJN TURIES, by James A. Jeremie, D.D., Regius Professor of Divinity in the 

University of Cambridge. 4s. cloth. 
Part II.— THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH FROM THE FOURTH TO 

THE TWELFTH CENTURY. By Rev. J. M. Guilding, Rev. J. B. S. 

Carwithen, B.D., &c, 5s., cloth. 
Third Division.— THE RISE, ACCOMPLISHMENT, & CONSEQUENCES 

OF THE REFORMATI ON ; being the History oftheChurch from theThirteenth 

Century to the present time. Bv Right Reverend Dr. Hampden, Bishop of 

Hereford, Rev. J. E. Riddle, M.A., &c. &c 

GREEK AND ROMAN PHILOSOPHY AND SCIENCE. 

HISTORY OF GREEK AND ROMAN PHILOSOPHY AND SCIENCE. 
By the Rev. Dr. Blomfield, William Lowndes. Esq.. M.A., Q.C., Rev. J, W. 
Blakesley, M.A., Andrew Findlater, A.M., Rev. Professor Jeremie, Rev. 
Professor Whewell, and other Contributors. Crown Svo, 6s. cloth. 

GREEK LITERATURE. 

A HISTORY OF GREEK LITERATURE. By Sir T. N. Taltourd, Right 
Rev. Dr. Blomfield. Bishop of London, Rev. H. Thompson, M.A., and other 
Contributors. With Chronological Tables and Index. Crown Svo, 7s. 6d. cloth. 



NEW WORKS AND NEW EDITIONS 



ENCYCLOPAEDIA METROPOLITAXA, Original 4to Edition. 

ASTRONOMY, by Barlow, Herschell, and Airy. 21 Plates. 14s. 
EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE, by Barlow, Roget, Harvey, kc. 39 Pis. lZ.ls. 
FINE ARTS, by Narrien, TVestmacott, Gwilt, &c. 55 Plates. 1?. Is. 
MANUFACTURES and MACHINERY, by Barlow and Babbage. 87 Pis. 42s. 
MATHEMATICS, by Airy, De Morgan, Moseley, Peacock, &c. 17 Pis. 21s. 
MECHANICAL PHILOSOPHY, by Barlow and Herschell. 78 Pis. 3L 
MEDICAL SCIENCE, by South, Bowman, Williams, &c. IS Plates. 14s. 
MENTAL PHILOSOPHY, by Coleridge, Whately, Maurice, &c 14s. 
NATURAL HISTORY, by Edwards, Phillips, &c. 131 Plates. II. 15s. 
USEFUL ARTS, by Don, Lowe, Senior, &c. 10 Plates. 14s. 

ENCYCLOPEDIA METROPOLITAXA, NEW AND REVISED 

EDITION. The Second Edition of the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana will be 
handsomely printed in a Series of Cabinet Volumes, each containing a Complete Trea- 
tise, in crown 8vo. The work will be thoroughly revised, many new Treatises added, 
the Articles all provided with comprehensive Indices, or Analytical Tables of Con- 
tents, and abundantly illustrated by Maps, "Woodcuts, and Engravings. 

Vol. 1— METHOD. S. T. Coleridge. 2s. 

2.— UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR. Sir John Stoddart. 5s. 

3.— LOGIC. Archbishop "Whately. 3s. 

4.— RHETORIC. ARCHEISHOPWHATELY.3s.Gd. 

5.— EARLY CHRISTIANITY. Bishop Hinds. Cs. 

6.— POLITICAL ECONOMY. Nassau \V. Senior. 4s. 

7.— HISTORY OF THE JEWS. Archdeacon Hale. 2s. Cd. 

8.— SACRED HISTORY & BIOGRAPHY. Dr. Cox. 6s. 

9— GREEK LITERATURE. SiRT.N.TALFOiRD,£c.7s.6d. 

10.— ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY. Rev. F. D. Maurice. 5s. 

11.— UNIVERSAL HISTORY. Sir John Stoddart. 5s. 

12.— ROMAN ANTIQUITIES. Professor Ramsay. Ss. 6d. 

13.— BOTANY. Professor Balfour. 10s. 6d. 

14.— ELECTRO-METALLURGY. James Napier, 3s. 6d. 

15.-EARLY HISTORY OF GREECE. Sir T. N. Talfourd, &c. 9s. 

16.— PHOTOGRAPHY. Robert Hunt, F.R.S. 6s. 

17.— VETERINARY ART. TV. C. Spooner. 3s. 

IS.— EARLY ORIENTAL HISTORY. Professor Eadie. 8s. 

19.-HISTORY of the ROMAN REPUBLIC. Dr. Arnold, Sec. 8s. 6d. 
20.— BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES. Dr. Cox. 7s. 6d. 

21.— METALLURGY. J. A. Phillips, F.G.S. 12s. Cd. 

22.-THE CHURCH IN THE SECOND AND 

THIRD CENTURIES. Professor Jeremie. 4s. 

23 —HISTORY of GREECE & MACEDONIA. Dean Ltall, &c 8s. 
24.— ROMAN LITERATURE. Dr. Arnold, &c. 10s. 6d. 

25.-HISTORY OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. Dr. Arnold, &c. 10s. 6d. 
26.— DECLINE AND FALL OF ROME. Bishop Russel, &c 10s. 6d. 

27.— GREEK AND ROMAN PHILOSOPHY. Bishop of London, &c. 6s. 
28.-PHILOSOPHY OF THE FIRST SIX 

CENTURIES, Rev. F. D. Maurice. 3s. 6d. 

29.— HISTORY of the OTTOMAN EMPIRE. Col. Procter, &c 7s. 6d. 
30.— TRIGONOMETRY. Professor Airy. 2s. 6d. 

31.-OCCULT SCIENCES. Ret. E. Smedley, &c. 6s. 

32.— GEOLOGY. Prof. Phillips. 12s. 6d. 

33— THE CHURCH FROM THE FOURTH \ Ret. J. B.S.Carwithen,6cc. 

TO THE TWELFTH CENTURY. / 5s. 
34.— CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES. I. M'Burney, B.A. 5s. 

Creation to the Reformation. 
35.-CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES. Samuel Neill. 5s. 

Reformation to the Present Day. 



PUBLISHED BY RICHARD GRIFFIN AND CO. 



Alison, Brewster, &c. 12s. 6d 
M'Burney and Neill. 10s. 6d. 

Prof. Eadie, D.D., LL.D., 8s.6d. 
James Bryce, F.G.S. 
Professor Nichol, LL.D. 
Dr. Baird, F.L.S. 






GREECE.— HISTORY OF. 

History of Greece from the Earliest Period to the absorption of Greece in the 
Roman Empire. By E. Pococke, Esq., Rev. J. B. Ottley, M.A., Sir Thomas 
N. Talfourd, D.C.L., the late J.T. Rutt, Esq., William Roe Lyall, D.D., 
Rev. J. H. B. Mountain, D.D., Rev. G. C. Renouard, B.D., and others. Illus- 
trated bv numerous Wood Engravings. 2 vols, crown 8vo, 17s. cloth. 

1. EARLY HISTORY OF GREECE. 150 Engravings, 9s. cloth. 

2. HISTORY OF GREECE AND MACEDONIA. 100 Engravings, 8s. cloth. 

GRIFFIN'S PORTABLE CYCLOPEDIAS. 

A series of Alphabetical Reference Books adapted to the wants of the present age; 
beautifully printed and embellished. Post 8vo, cloth. 
Vol. 1.— BIBLICAL KNOWLEDGE. Prof. Eadie, D.D.,LL.D. 7s. 6d. 

2.-CHEMISTRY and MINERALOGY. Dr. Thomson, F.R.S. 12s. 6d. 
3.— UNIVERSAL BIOGRAPHY. 
4.-UNIVERSAL HISTORY. 
5.-ANALYTICAL CONCORDANCE 

TO THE BIBLE. 
6.— UNIVERSAL GAZETTEER. 
7.— PHYSICAL SCIENCES. 
8.— NATURAL SCIENCES. 
9.-ECCLESIASTICAL CYCLOPAEDIA. 

GRIFFIN'S NEW EDITIONS of the CLASSICS. 

Junior Classics — 

Extracts from Cesar's Commentaries, with Vocabulary and Notes, by J. 

Currie, Glasgow Academy, 18mo, Is. 6d. cloth. 
Extracts from Ovid's Metamorphoses, by I. M'Burney, B.A., with Copious 

Notes, 18mo, Is. 6d. cloth. d 
Cheap Classical Texts — ■ 
Horatii Opera, from the text of Orellius, large type, foolscap 8vo. 
Virgilii Opera, from the Text of Heyne and Wagner, large type, foolscap 8vo. 
Illustrated Classics — 
Horatii Opera— 250 Illustrations, and Memoir, by Rev. H. Thompson, M.A., 

Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. cloth. 
Virgilii Opera— 300 Illustrations, and Memoir, by Rev. H. Thompson, M.A., 

Crown 8vo, 8s. 6d. cloth. 

GRIFFIN'S SCHOOL AND COLLEGE SERIES, Crown 8vo, 

limp cloth. 

1. BIBLICAL AND EARLY ORIENTAL CHRONOLOGY. Is. 

2. GREECE AND MACEDONIA CHRONOLOGY. Is. 

3. ROMAN CHRONOLOGY. Is. 

4. BOTANIST'S VADE MECUM, by Balfour and Williams. Is. 

5. ARITHMETIC OF FRACTIONS AND PROPORTION, by J. Copeland. Is. ' 

6. ASTRONOMY, by Schoedler and Medlock, with 51 Engravings. Is. 6d. 

7. BOTANY, by Schoedler and Medlock, with 121 Engravings. Is. 6d. 

8. CHEMISTRY, by Schoedler and Medlock, with 50 Engravings. Is. 6d 

9. MINERALOGY and GEOLOGY, by Schoedler and Medlock; with 128 Engravings. Is. Gd. 

10. NATURAL PHILOSOPHY, by Schoedler and Medlock, with 150 Engravings. Is. 6d. 

11. ZOOLOGY and PHYSIOLOGY, by Schoedler and Medlock, with 84 Engravings. Is. 6d. 

12. BRITISH CHRONOLOGY. In preparation. 

HALE.— HISTORY OF THE JEWS, 

From the Time of Alexander the Great to the Destruction of Jerusalem by Titus. 
By Archdeacon Hale, Master of the Charter House. Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. cloth. 

HERSCHEL.— CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA 

METROPOLITAN A : viz. Physical Astronomv, Light, and Sound. 4to, cloth, 15s. 

HINDS.— EARLY CHRISTIANITY. " 

THE RISE AND EARLY PROGRESS OF CHRISTIANITY. By Right 
Rev. Dr. Hinds, Bishop of Norwich. New Edition, Revised, crown 8vo, 5s. cloth. 

HORATII OPERA. 

THE COMPLETE WORKS OF HORACE, from the Text of Orellius, with 
2&0 Illustrations from the most authentic sources, and Introductory Dissertation 
on the Life and Poetry of Horace, by the Rev. Henry Thompson, M.A., 
late Scholar of Cambridge, Vicar of Chard. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. antique binding-. 

HUNT.— PHOTOGRAPHY. 

Embracing the Daguerreotype, Calotype, and all the published Photographic 
processes. By Robert Hunt, F.R.S. Fourth edition, enlarged. Numerous 
Engravings, crown Svo, 6s. cloth. 



NEW WORKS AND NEW EDITIONS 



JAMIESON.— RELIGIOUS BIOGRAPHY. 

POPULAR CYCLOPEDIA OF MODERN RELIGIOUS BIOGRAPHY. 
By the Rev. Robert Jamieson, D.D. Second Edition, crown 8vo, 5b. cloth. 

JEREMIE.— CHURCH HISTORY. 

HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN THE SECOND AND 
THIRD CENTURIES. By James Amiraux Jeremie, D.D. 9 Regius Professor 
of Divinity, Cambridge. Crown 8vo, 4s. cloth. 

KINGSLE'Y.— NATIONAL SERMONS. 

By the Rev. Charles Kingsley, Canon of Middleham, and Rector of Eversley, 

author of Yeast, Alton Locke, &c. Foolscap 8vo, 5s. cloth. 

M'BURNEY.— ANCIENT HISTORY. 

THE STUDENT'S HANDBOOK OF ANCIENT HISTORY. With Map, 
&c. By I. M'Burney, B.A., one of the Classical blasters in the Glasgow 
Academy. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d., cloth. 

MANUFACTURES AND MACHINERY. 

THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF ARTS, MANUFACTURES, AND MA- 
CHINERY By Professor Barlow. With an Introductory Dissertation, by 
Professor Babbage. New edition, with 87 Pages of Engravings. 4to, 42s. half russia. 

MATHEMATICS. 

THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PURE MATHEMATICS, comprehending a 
complete Course of Mathematical Science. By Professors Airy, Barlow, De 
Morgan, Hall, Hamilton, Levy, Moseley, Dr. Lardner, F.R.S., and Rev. 
Dr. Peacock, Dean of Ely. With 17 Engravings, £1 Is. cloth. 

MAURICE.— MORAL AND METAPHYSICAL PHILOSOPHY: 

Ancient Philosophy, comprising the Hebrew, Egyptian, Hindoo, Chinese, 
Persian, Grecian, Jtoman and Alexandrian Systems of Philosophy. By Rev. F. D. 
Maurice, M.A. Chaplain to Lincoln's Inn. Third Edition, cr. 8vo, 5s. cloth. 

Philosophy of the First Six Centuries. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. cloth. 

Philosophy of the Middle Ages. Crown 8vo. In the Press. 

Modern Philosophy. Crown 8vo. In the Press. 

MENTAL SCIENCE. 

Samuel Taylor Coleridge on METHOD ; Archbishop Whately's Trea- 
tises on LOGIC and RHETORIC. Crown 8vo, 5s. cloth. 

MILES— SCRIPTURE AND SCIENCE. 

THE HARMONY OF SCRIPTURE AND SCIENCE, by Rev. Charles P. 
Miles, M.A., Camb. Incumbent of St. Jude's, Glasgow, foolscap 8vo, cloth. 

MITCHISON.— SCOTTISH SONG. 

A HAND-BOOK OF THE SONGS OF SCOTLAND, containing the best 
Songs of Burns, &c. Set to Music. With Notes, and Life of Wilson. By William 
Mitchison. Crown Svo, 2s. 6d. cloth. 

MORRISON.— BOOK-KEEPING ; 

A Complete System of Practical Book-keeping by Single Entry, Double Entry, 
and a New Method. By C. Morrison. Eighth edition, Svo., 8s. half-bound. 

NAPIER.— DYEING. 

A Manual of Dyeing, Practical and Theoretical. By James Napier, F.C.S. 

With Engravings. Post Svo, 7s. 6d. cloth. 

NAPIER.— DYEING RECEIPTS. 

A Manual of Dyeing Receipts, with Specimens of Cloth. By James 
Napier, F.C.S. Post 8vo, 7s. 6d. cloth. 

NAPIER.— ELECTRO-METALLURGY ; 

Containing an Account of the most Improved Methods of Depositing Copper, 
Silver, Gold, and other metals, with numerous Illustrations. By James Napier, 
F.C.S. Second edition, revised and enlarged. Crown Svo, 3s. 6d. cloth. 

NATURAL SCIENCES. 

Introductory Manual of the Natural Sciences, comprising Geology, 
Botany, and Zoology. By Professors Schoedler and Medlock. Numerous 
Illustrations, crown Svo, 5s. cloth. 

NICHOL.— PHYSICAL SCIENCES. 

A Cyclopaedia of the Physical Sciences, comprising Acoustics— Astronomy- 
Dynamics — Electricity — Heat — Hydrodynamics — Magnetism — Philosophy of 
Mathematics —Meteorology — Optics— Pneumatics— Statics. By J. P. Nichol, 
LL.D., Professor of Astronomy in the University of Glasgow. With Numerous 
Illustrations. Post 8vo. 



PUBLISHED BY RICHARD GRIFFIN AND CO. 



OTTOMAN EMPIRE.— HISTORY OF. 

History of the Ottoman Empire, including a Sketch of the Greek Empire and the 
Crusades. By Col. Procter, Rev. J. E. Riddle, and J. M'Cosechy. Cr. 8vo, 7s. 6d. 

PALEY.— NATURAL THEOLOGY, 

Or, the EVIDENCE of the EXISTENCE and ATTRIBUTES of the DEITY, 
by W. Paley, D.D., Archdeacon of Carlisle, new edition with Notes and Disser- 
tations by Lord Brougham and Sir Ch. Bell, 3 vols, small 8vo, 7s. 6d. cloth. 

PHILLIPS.— GEOLOGY. 

A Manual of Geology, Practical and Theoretical, with Numerous Illustrations. 
By John Phillips, M.A., F.R.S., F.G.S., Deputy Reader of Geology in the 
University of Oxford. Crown 8vo. 12s. 6d. 

PHILLIPS.— GOLD MINING ; 

A POPULAR TREATISE on GOLD-MINING, and ASSAYING. Bv J. A. 
Phillips, F.C.S., F.G.S. With Illustrations, second edit., fols. Svo, 2s, 6d. cloth. 

PHILLIPS.— METALLURGY ; 

A Manual of Metallurgy : being an Account of Assaying, Mining, Smelting, 
&c, bv J. A. Phillips, F.C.S. Second Edition, revised and enlarged, with 
above 200 Engravings. Crown Svo, 12s. 6d. cloth. 

PHYSICAL SCIENCES. 

Introductory Manual of the Physical Sciences, comprising Natural Philo- 
sophy, Astronomy, and Chemistry. By Professors Schoedler and Medlock. 
Numerous Illustrations, crown 8vo, cloth, 5s. 

POCOCKE.— INDIA IN GREECE, 

Or, TRUTH IN MYTHOLOGY, containing an Account of the Sources of the 
Hellenic Race, the Colonization of Egypt and Palestine from India, the Wars of 
the Grand Lama, and the Bud'histic Propaganda in Greece. By E. Pococke, Esq. 
Second edition, illustrated by Maps of India and Greece, post Svo, 5s. cloth. 

POLSON.— PRINCIPLES OF THE LAW OF NATIONS, 

By Archer Polson, Esq., and DIPLOMACY by T. Hartwell Horne, B.D. 
Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. cloth. 

POPE.— POETICAL WORKS. 

COMPLETE POETICAL WORKS and TRANSLATIONS of ALEXAN- 
DER POPE. Portrait and Yignette. New Edition, 8vo, 5s. cloth. 

PROCTER— CRUSADES. 

HISTORY OF THE CRUSADES; their Rise, Progress, and Results. By 
Colonel Procter. "With Illustrations after Gilbert, &c. Crown Svo, 3s. 6d., cloth. 

RAMSAY.— ROMAN ANTIQUITIES; 

A Manual of Roman Antiquities. By William Ramsay, M. A., Professor of 
Humanity in the University of Glasgow. With Map, numerous Engravings, and 
very copious Index. Third edition, crown Svo, 8s. 6d. cloth. 

REIT).— INTELLECTUAL POWERS. 

Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man. By Thomas Reid, D.D. New 
edition, crown 8vo, 5s. 

RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. 

A CYCLOPAEDIA OF RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. An Authentic 
Account of the various Religions prevailing throughout the World, written by 
Members of the respective Bodies. Second edition, crown Svo, 5s. cloth. 

ROME— HISTORY OF. 

HISTORY OF ROME, from the Foundation of the City of Rome to the Extinc- 
tion of the Western Empire. By Rev. Thomas Arnold, D.D. , the Rev. Professor 
Jeremie, D.D., Sir Thomas Noon Talfourd, D.C.L., and others. Illus- 
trated by numerous Engravings. Three Volumes, crown 8vo, cl. extra, £1 9s. 6'd. 

1. THE ROMAN REPUBLIC, 8s. 6d. cloth. 

2. THE ROMAN EMPIRE, 10s. 6d. cloth. 

3. THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN POWER, 10s. 6d. cloth. 

ROMAN LITERATURE. 

A HISTORY OF ROMAN LITERATURE. Bv Rev. Thomas Arnold, D.D , 
Rev. Henry Thomfson, M.A., Rev. J. H. Newman, B.D., the Rev. J. M. 
Neale. M.A.. and other Contributors. Crown Svo, l(Js. 6d. cloth. 

SACRED HISTORY. 

SACRED and ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY and ANTIQUITIES, from 
the Creation of the World to our own Times, by F. A. Cox, D.D., F. D. Maurice, 
M.A., Archdeacon Hale, Bishop of Norwich, Bishop of Hereford, Pro- 
fessor Jeremie, Rev. J. E. Riddle, &c, &c, 6 vols, crown 8vo, £2 2s. cloth. 



8 



NEW WORKS ASD NEW EDITIONS. 



SCRIPTURE READINGS— J AMIESOX. 

The Bible Familiarly Explained to the Young. Edited by the Rev. Dr. 
Jamieson. With Illustrations, foolscap Svo, 3s. 6d. cloth. 

SENIOR.— POLITICAL ECONOMY; 

The Science which Treats of the Nature, Production, and Distribution of "Wealth. 
By Nassau W. Senior, M.A. Third edition, crown 8vo, As. cloth. 

SJ1EDLEY.— OCCULT SCIENCES. 

THE OCCULT SCIENCES-Sketches of the Traditions and Supersti- 
tions of Past Times and the Marvels of the Present Day: comprising the 
Ancients and their Fables — Supernatural Beings — Localities — Exercise of Occult 
Power — Psychological Experiences — Wonders of Divination — Natural and Artifi- 
cial Charms. By Rev. E. Smedley, M.A., W. Cooke Taylor, LL.D., Rev. 
H. Thompson, M.A.. and Elihu Rich, Esq. Crown 8vo, 6s. cloth. 

SPOONER.— VETERINARY ART. 

A Practical Treatise on the Diseases of the Horse. By W. C. Spooner, Esq. With 
50 Engravings. Crown Svo, 3s. cloth. 

STODDART.— INTRODUCTION TO HISTORY: 

Two Dissertations — First: On the Uses of History as a Study. Second: On the 
Separation of the Early Facts of History from Fable. By Sir John Stoddart, 
LL.D. Crown Svo, 5s. cloth. 

STODDART.— UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR, 

Or, the Pure Science of Language. By Sir John Stoddar/t, LL.D. Third 
edition, revised, crown 8vo. 5s. cloth. 

THOMSON.— CHEMISTRY. 

A CYCLOPEDIA OF CHEMISTRY, Practical and Theoretical, with 
its Applications to Mineralogy, Physiology, and the Arts. Bv R. D. Thomson, 
M.D., F.R.S., F.C.S., Professor of Chemistry at St. Thomas's Hospital College, 
London. With numerous Illustrations, post Svo, 12s. 6d. cloth. 

UNIVERSAL HISTORY. 

CYCLOPAEDIA OF UNIVERSAL HISTORY: comprising Tabular Views of 
Contemporaneous Events in all Ages, from the Earliest Records to the Present 
time, arranged Chronologically and Alphabetically. Edited by Isaiah M'Burney, 
B.A., and Samuel Neill, Esq. Post Svo, 10s. 6d. cloth. 

VIRGILII OPERA. 

THE COMPLETE WORKS OF VIRGIL, from the text of Heyne and Wagner, 
with 300 Illustrations, from the most authentic sources, and Introductory Disserta- 
tion on the Life and Poetry of Virgil. By Rev. Henry Thompson, M.A., late 
scholar of Cambridge, Vicar of Chard, &c. Crown Svo, 8s. 6d., antique binding. 

WHATELY.— LOGIC. 

Original Edition, complete, forming part of the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana. 
With Synopsis and Index. Crown Svo, 2s. sewed, or 3s. cloth. 

WHATELY.— RHETORIC. 

Original Edition, complete, forming part of the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana. 
With Synopsis and Index. Crown Svo, 2s. 6d. sewed, or 3s. b'd. cloth. 

WHITE.— THE NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORXE. By Rev. Gilbert White, 
A.M. New edition, greatly enlarged by Captain Thomas Brown, F.L.S., ccc. 
With coloured Illustrations^ foolscap Svo, cloth 1 , 2s. 6d., or richly gilt, 3s. 

WITTICH.— PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 

Curiosities of Physical Geography. A Description of the most Remarkable 
Natural Phenomena. By William Wittich. New edition. Small Svo, 2s. 6d. cloth. 

WOLFE.— MESSIANIC PROPHECIES. 

THE MESSIAH, as PREDICTED in the PENTATEUCH and PSALMS; 

being a new Translation and Critical Exposition of these Sacred Oracles. By 
J. R. WOLFE, author of the " Practical Hebrew Grammar." 8vo, 5s. cloth. 

ZOOLOGY— ILLUSTRATIONS OF. 

A Series of Ninety Engravings, comprehending about a Thousand Figures of Qua- 
drupeds, Birds, Fish /Reptiles, Mollusca, Insects. Crustacea, Polyps. &c, engraved 
by J. W. Lowry and Thomas Landseer, after Sowerby, Charles Landseer, and 
others. The Descriptions bv John Flint South, Esq., F.L.S., J. E. Gray, Esq., 
F.L.S., J. F. Stephens, Esq., F.L.S., F.Z.S., and others. Im. 4to, 30s. cloth gilt. 

BELL AND BAIX, PRINTERS. 



to 



Cabinet Edition of the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana — continued. 
Vol. XXV., price 10s. Gd., cloth lettered, 

HISTORY OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. By the Rev. Thos. Arnold, D.D., 

late Head Master, Rugby School, and Others. With Numerous Illustrations. 
Vol. XXVI., price 10s. Gd., cloth lettered, 

HISTORY OF THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN POWER. 

By the Right Rev. Bishop Russel, <fec. With Numerous Illustrations, 
Vol. XXVIL, price 6s., cloth lettered, 
HISTORY OF GREEK AND ROMAN PHILOSOPHY AND SCIENCE. By 

the Right Rev. Charles Blomfield, D.D., Bishop of London; Rev. Dr. Whewell, and 

nthpv rinntrihnf-nrs 



FINE FOR OVER-DE T ENT ^ TWi 




^KEN 



TRY. L mer Re 

xCkburn, M.A fMariieraati u niversity of Glasgow 

Voi. XXXI., nrice Gs., cloth lett jd, 
COMPENDIUM OF THE OCCULT SCIENCES: Containing the Traditions 

and Superstitions of past times, and the Man-els of the present day, in a series of Historical 
Sketches, by the Rev. Edward Smedlet. M.A., E. Rich, Esq., and other Contributors. 

" A repository of curious information, . . . most instructive and interesting reading."— Liicray 

'• Full of real learning."'— Fress. 

Vol. XXXII., price 12s. Gd., cloth lettered, 

GEOLOGY— Practical and Theoretical. By John Phillips, M.A.. F.R.S., 

F.G.S., Deputy Reader in Geology in the University of Oxford. With Xumerous Illustrations. 

" A most admirable text-book. : '— Westminster Review. 

Vol. XXXIIL, price 5s. cloth lettered, 

HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, from the Fourth to the Twelfth 
Century. Bv Rev. J. M. Guildixg, Rev. J. B. Cauwithen, and Others. 



Volumes in Active Preparation. 

I. 
SCULPTURE. By Richard Westmacott, F.R.S., A.R.A., with Numerous 

Illustrations, revised. 

II. 
THE STEAM ENGINE: its History and Applications to Locomotion, Naviga- 
tion, Mining, and Manufactures. By William Ferguson', F.C.S. With Numerous Illustra- 
tions. 

III. 
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, from the Thirteenth Century to the Present Day. 
By Rev. Dr. Haxpden, Bishop of Hereford; Rev. J. E. Riddle, and Others. 

IV. 
GLOSSOLOGY: or, The Historical Relations of Languages. By Sir Johx 
Stoddakt, LL.D. 

MORAL AND METAPHYSICAL PHILOSOPHY— THE MIDDLE AGES. 

By Rev. F. D. Maurice, M.A., Chaplain of Lincoln's Inn. 

VI. 
MORAL AND METAPHYSICAL PHILOSOPHY— MODERN PHILOSOPHY. 

By Rev. F. D. Maurice, M.A., Chaplain of Lincoln's Inn. 

VII. 

PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF MEDICINE. By R. Williams, M.D., 

Physician to St. Thomas's Hospital, London, and W. Aitees, M.D.*, Demonstrator of Anatomy 
in the University of Glasgow. 

VIII. 
ARITHMETIC. By Rev. Dr. Peacock, Dean of Ely. Revised. 



Cabinet Edition of the Encyclopaedia Metropolitan— continued. 

VoL XII., price 8s. 6d., cloth lettered, 
ROMAN ANTIQUITIES. By William Ramsay, M.A., Professor of Humanity 
in the University of Glasgow. With Map, and One Hundred and Thirty Illustrations. 
Third Edition. 
" Comprises all the results of modern improved scholarship within a moderate compass."— Athenasum. 

VoL XIIL, price 10s. 6d., cloth lettered, 

BOTANY. By John Hutton Balfour, M.D., F.L.S., F.R.S.E., Professor of 

Botany in the* University of Edinburgh. Third Edition, revised and enlarged by Joseph TVil- 
liams, M.D., Lecturer on Botany at the original School of Medicine, Dublin. Xumerous 
Engravings. 
" Perhaps the most masterly digest of the science -which has yet appeared." — Witness. 

YoL XIV., price 3s. 6d., cloth lettered, 

ELECTRO-METALLURGY: Containing- an Account of the most Improved 
Methods of Depositing Copper, Silver, Gold, and ether Metals. Second Edition, with 
Numerous Illustrations. By James Xapler, F.C.S. 
"With this book at hand, we don't "think it possible to fail in obtaining satisfactory results."— Art Journal. 

Vol. XV., price 9s., cloth lettered, 
HISTORY OF GREECE from the Earliest Times to the Close of the Pelo- 

ponnesian War. By E. Pococke, Esq. ; Sir T. X. Talfourd, D.C.L. ; Rev. J. B. Ottlet, A.M. : 
and the late J. T. Rutt, Esq. With upwards of One Hundred Engravings, from the most 
authentic sources. 

" Altogether a gem."— Glasgow Citizen. 

Vol. XVI., price 6s., cloth lettered, 
PHOTOGRAPHY. By Robert Hunt, F.R.S., Professor of Physical Science in 

the Metropolitan School of Science, London. Fourth Edition, Xumerous Engravings. 
"Must prove of infinite service to those engaged in the pursuit of this entertaining science." — Art Journal. 

VoL XVII., price 3s., cloth lettered, 
VETERINARY ART : A Practical Treatise on the Diseases of the Horse. By 

W. C. Spoones, Esq., with 50 Engravings. 

Vol. XVIII., price 8s., cloth lettered, 
EARLY ORIENTAL HISTORY, comprising the History of the Egyptians, As- 
syrians, Phoenicians, Persians, &c By the Rev. Professor Eadie, D.D.^*LL.D. With 
Xumerous Illustrations. 
•* In all respects a thoroughly good book." — Dr. Kitto. 

Vol. XIX., price Ss. 6d., cloth lettered, 

HISTORY OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC. By the Rev. Thos. Arnold, D.D., 

late Head Master, Rugby School ; Sir Thos. N. Taltoued, D.C.L. ; the Rev. Professor Jereliie, 
and others. With Xumerous Illustrations. 

Vol. XX, price 7s. Gd., cloth lettered, 
BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES AND GEOGRAPHY, including the Language, Geo- 
graphy, and Early History of Palestine. Edited by the Rev. F. A.£ox, D.D., LL.D. ' With 

Maps and Numerous Illustrations. 
" The most raadable book on the subject in our language." — Baptist Magazine. 

Vol. XXI., price 12s. 6d., cloth lettered^ 
METALLURGY. A Practical Treatise on the Chemistry of the Metals. By 
John Arthur Phillips, Esq., F.C.S. Second Edition, revised. Illustrated by nearly 200 
Engravings. 
*' A sine qua non to every metallurgist." — Mining Journal. 

VoL XXII., price 4s., cloth lettered, 
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH in the Second and Third Centuries. 
By Jasles Amtraux Jeremie, D.D., Regius Professor of Divinity, Cambridge. 

" It is an admirable text-book." — Evangelical Magazine. 

VoL XXIII., price 8s., cloth lettered, 
HISTORY OF GREECE AND MACEDONIA, from the Age of Xenophon to 
the absorption of Greece in the Roman Empire, mcluding the History of Alexander the Great 
and his Successors. By Dr. Ltall, Dean of Canterbury, Rev. G. C. Rexoitard, B.D., &c. &c 
With Xumerous Illustrations. 
" The dissertations are full, luminous, and charmingly written."— Eclectic Review. 

VoL XXTV., price 10s. 3d., cloth lettered, 

HISTORY OF ROMAN LITERATURE. By the Rev. Thos. Arxold, D.D., 

late Head Master, Rugby School; Rev. Henry Thompson, M.A.; Rev. Dr. Xewmas; Rev. J. 
B. Ottley, M.A. ; and Rev. J. M. Xeale, Varden of SackvLUe CoUege. 



ISBJlTS 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



022 211 298 9 



■ 



BS^ 



Hi 



I 



■9 



